What Electrocution has to do with Renewable Energies

in #history5 years ago

And by that I don't mean that you can kill an elephant with green power, if you want to.

In a forum I just read that one person's friends, those that are climate change deniers, increasingly say that there is no perfect solution for the energy transition yet.

And by that they are right. But if you ever find yourself saying this sentence, it is time to put yourself on the electric chair out of pure mercy.


Wiki Commons, public domain

"There is no perfect solution" is about the stupidest thing ever to use as an argument, for several reasons. The most important one: There is never a perfect solution. Which is probably the reason why a person smarter than me once said to not let perfect be the enemy of good.

And funnily enough, the history of electricity is a fine example of this.

Back when the world started to electrify, they were very far away from perfect. There even was a "war" between AC and DC proponents, culminating in the invention of the electrical death sentence: Edison (DC) wanted to show how dangerous Westinghouse's AC is, to kill off not only criminals but also his competition, and proposed eletrocution.
The first attempt at it went so bad that several of the witnesses had to throw up.
And still the world used AC electricity!

And Japan even today has 2 seperate electric grids - one with 50Hz (like Europe) and one with 60 Hz (US). Why?
Because when it all started, the Japanese bought two generators, one in the US and one from Berlin. The Berlin one was placed in Tokyo, the other in Osaka. Later it was deemed too expensive to change the grids.
And since Japan after WWII produced basically all electric household stuff of the world, it is normal that a microwave you buy here in 50Hz Germany can also work with 60Hz. Isn't history strange?

steemitfooteren.jpg