However, DC doesn't really work all that well over long distances, measured in miles (or KM) and has to be boosted every so many miles. The power lines in BC that we're talking about go for about 500 miles or so, use 3-phase power, and therefore it's cheaper in cost of transmission wire to use AC.
-----Original Message----- From: Robert Derman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 2008/05/27 15:11 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [social] I am not receiving anything from this list Ian Lynch wrote: > On Tue, 2008-05-27 at 13:14 -0500, Robert Derman wrote: > > >>>> Farmers are smart, they've been putting 100 turns of #6 copper under power >>>> lines for years, free power for the farm. Until it burns down. >>>> >>>> >> This is why a lot of the high power transmission lines now use direct >> current rather than alternating current. There was just too much >> induction loss. >> > > Snag with transformers then? I would have thought the additional cost of > stepping up and down voltage would have made it uneconomic for general > use but then again technology changes so maybe I'm just out of date :-). > > Ian > Solid state oscillators turn it back to AC at its destination so that transformers can step the voltage down. The cost of doing this is far less than the value of the energy lost by AC losses. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 269.24.1/1468 - Release Date: 08/05/26 15:23 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
