Conventional high-voltage transmission lines lose a portion of the electric energy as heat
Limbofu/Shutterstock
The following is an extract from our climate newsletter Fix the Planet. Sign up to receive it for free in your inbox every month.
Last year, researchers in South Korea made a splash after claiming to have discovered a room-temperature superconductor that they called LK99. One reason for the excitement was that such a material could enable ultra-efficient power lines, helping distribute the gigawatts of clean electricity now coming online while minimising the amount of new infrastructure needed.
LK99 proved to be a flop, and…
