Despite the improved efficiency of consumer electronics in general and measures including the Standby Power Directive in particular, the demand for energy is only going in one direction -up. Numerous technology companies and universities are already working on engineering solutions to enable a Europe-wide 'Super Grid' supplied by renewables including wind, wave and solar in addition to nuclear, both fission and fusion. Quite how this energy is distributed over huge distances - as AC or DC - remains a hot topic of debate but the solution may lie in the new conducting materials being developed to lace this grid together. Copper, it seems is yesterday's technology.
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