The World in 2030

The World in 2030 197
for creating and transmitting energy. He describes
new power transmission lines based on carbon
nanotubes woven into long wires that will be far
stronger, lighter, and most important, much more
energy efficient than conventional copper ones.
He also envisions using superconducting wires to
replace aluminium and copper wires in electric motors
to provide greater efficiency. 373
And George Monbiot identifies the possible benefits of
switching types of current in future power transmission lines
from alternating current (AC) to new types of plastic-based
direct current (DC) cable. 374 This, he claims, has the potential
to make new forms of renewable energy more economic.
In ‘Heat’ he writes:
Most importantly, though the initial electricity loss
on a DC line is higher, it does not increase with distance.
On AC systems, by contrast, the longer the
line, the more you lose. There is no inherent limit on
the length of a DC cable.
High voltage DC, which can be run along the sea
bed, opens up any patch of sea shallower than 50
metres to wind turbines and pretty well all the continental
shelf to wave power devices, which (because
they float) can be anchored at greater depths. Since
wind speeds rise by around one metre per second
with every 100 kilometres from the shore, this means
that the cost of renewable power could actually fall
with distance from the coast…You can install wind
turbines which rotate faster (and are therefore both