This is crazy stuff - don't miss it!

http://www.lhcfeed.com/

Did you know that what has been learned about managing large superconducting systems could well be worth trillions when the time comes to build the superefficient superconducting trunk lines for the electrical grid we will need in the near future to replace our rotting old transmission lines and electrical infrastructure?

An overview of the state of the grid...

http://www.marketwatch.com/newscommentary/specialreports/powercrisis

And some news about the future of superconducter grids...

Power firms grasp new tech for aging grid

By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch

Last update: 5:41 p.m. EDT July 11, 2008

BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. (MarketWatch) -- On the ground beneath a forest of power transmission towers in suburban Long Island, experimental wires cooled by liquid nitrogen carried 138,000 volts in flat strands about the size of linguini.

Power executives, engineers, and the media gathered recently to officially throw the switch at the $60 million Holbrook Superconductor project, the world's first transmission power cable transmitting waves of electricity from the grid to a substation that feeds actual U.S. homes.

Surrounded by stainless steel tubing and insulation, the three superconductors at Holbrook move power down a corridor only four feet wide. The 600-meter-long underground cable system consists of about 99 miles of superconductor wires from American Superconductor chilled to minus 371 degrees

America's Power Crisis

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"These are electricity pipelines," said Greg Yurek, CEO of American Semiconductor as he waved his hand at the giant power lines above. "Just look at the right of way, 200 to 300 feet wide. That costs a lot of money. Compress all that down to those three simple superconductor cables, and that's a lot less right of way. That's going to reduce overall system cost. That's gonna go right to the ratepayers."

Faced with the threat of a major crisis from handling increased loads over electricity bottlenecks with 100-year-old gear, electric power providers are eying new technology to help shore up America's aging grid with about $17 billion in spending by 2010.

"If we don't invest in technology and we continue to have an antiquated system that's not able to predict problems before they happen, we'll be looking at increasing power quality problems and blackouts," said David Brewster, president of EnerNoc , a provider of so-called "smart grid" technology.