The 1-Million volt DC powerlines running from Oregon to Los Angeles.
alcpress.org
The DC line carrying a million volts from The Dalles Oregon to Los Angeles somewhat validates Tesla's theory.
I have an old radio here, it is rated for 25 or 60 cycle power and was made in Canada circa 1939 It is common for me to find AC radios from Canada and the usa of around this vintage that are rated as such.
so yes 25 cycle power was used this side of the pond but 60 cycle took over.
the obvious difference in these radios is the transformer is about twice as heavy, its massive compared to a 60 cycle one.
The copper used and the pure iron of transformers have a cost to manufacture.
Now many products are using electronic power supplies, again to save materials.
often machiery with motors comes now with a variable speed control, and its often toted as a "nice feature" but what the buyers don't often realize is that older equipment had standard NEMA mounting standards , but now much of it is simply proprietary. now any equipment failure requires a proprietary motor and a proprietary motor control board. I see it in machienry but it also true for your home furnace or washing machine. the motor became proprietary.
in terms of efficiency , well think how long the washing machine or stove would typically last , in the 70's they had no electronics and woudl typically last 30 years. failures were sometimes belts bearings seals, there were no electronic failures, other than maybe a timer switch.
modernizatioin mean we are now throwing away appliances after about 10 years.
samsung and others build washers using pot metal part, ( the spider) fully knowing the parts will become destroyed by electrolysis reaction with the stainless steel drum , this is a good example of engieered obsolescence, our landfill are full of obsolete machines like that that were built intentioally to an inferipor quality , with full intent to fail, to sell more of them.
the problems are rampant throughout manufacuring sectors, its extremely wasteful.. we know how to build a washer in 1970 that would last a generation. and no your stove didn't need a printed circuit board. now even my coffee pot does. The maytag man didn't make any money.
a typical samsung washing machien is 1000 dollars.
technology is great but to improve efficiancy, standardization is essential and engieered obsolescence is avery wasteful practice.. it makes money for manufacturers, it hurts consumers, and the environment. and we are all victims of it.
fast fashion doesnt; need to be a part of our consumer product cycle, but it is. look at all the shiney cars, every one different. Personally I dotn care what it looks like so much, I just wish it could be fixed. I wish it would last. a lot of manufacturers dotn even relaease service data, forcing the consumer to the dealer.
Honda ceases production of proprietary auto parts after only 10 years. limiting repair parts is a strategy,
just imagine what could be done to decrese manufacturing smf dconsumer waste if technology was used to make things more easily repairable and to provide parts for longer durations.
It could slow the manufacturing sector and reduce consumer costs and waste dramatically. The only reason technology isn't used to the advantage of the consumer or the environment is because of corporate greed. corporations ise a basis of profit analysis strategy to make decisions , not common sense.
our society is extremely wasteful why because it drives the corporate strategy. manufacturing more means more corporate profit.
even my coffee pot is obsilete, I broke the pot, not the glass the cheap plastic handle broke off,, I fixed it with tie wraps.
think its worth changing the switch? forget it throw it in the garbage , the switch is a propritary PCB. it's 2 years old, this is typical waste. It's not technologically hard to build a coffee maker than can last 30 years.
imagine how cheap car parts could be if thye were mostly similar. the cost of buying one would plummet, they would be repairable. the cost to the consumer would reduce to a fraction of what it is. We as consumers don't have the option to steer manufacturing processes. you want a new car, they are all built with obsolescence in mind. same with your home furnace, same wiht your new coffee pot.
What I do, is buy used, I throw out new stuff if I find antiques that work for me, I don't need plastic in my clothes or my furnature. I fix what I can, it saves me cost. I am an outlier in the stats, consciously. my toaster is from 1939, it still works perfectly. I scour free stuff some things like my washing machien I'll by broken and take time to fix. my sofa is from 1908 it
needs recovering , its worth the cost, it has no plastics and its comletely biodegradable.. whay arent all new couches biodegradable? Throw it in the dump, buy again, plastic is cheap. oh but the world is getting polluted exponentially ,, Can I fix it, no. I think my couch can outlive me,, because it was built to last.
