Make it safer and cleaner and made in Thailand.

Light (2), Electricity and Power Grid

It was light that brought about electricity and power (supply) grid (the artificial webs of black cables strung up from pole to pole, building to building, and dangling cords of death everywhere in our home) that makes ugly sight and kills a large number of people.

Electricity was known at least in  600 B.C. when Thales of Miletus wrote about amber becoming charged by rubbing (we now call the charge - static electricity). It was not until 1800CE that Humphry Davy connected 2 wires from his battery to a piece of carbon (burnt cotton filament) that electric light came to be possible. Joseph Swan invented electric light (in glass) bulbs first installed in England powered by a private hydroelectric generation plant.

It took Thomas Alva Edison to (re)invent vacuum elctric light bulbs and power supply grids to light up homes in USA (1879) and now over the world.

Because investment for power grids is quite high, and  connections made for a few hours of lighting did not make economic sense. Power grid owners must find ways to recoop their investment quicker. So, inventions for electrical devices mushroomed to fill every home -- to use every second of electricity connections, and to pay for usage...

So, it is 'light' that drove Man to total dependency on electricity and the "power grids" -- the power that controls alternative electricity generation -- outside the grids. Wind, solar, water, wave, tide, ... can be used to generate electricity. But, they may not fit into the grids. Though, small generation plants may be possible to supply home/cluster/village/town, they are not profitable for the grids owners. So, governments do not support such development (except in Germany).

What happens now that most people are totally dependent on electricity-consuming devices: lighting, radio/TV, computer, (mobile) phone, clock, fan/air cooler, kitchen mixer, blender, shaver, toothbrush, dryer, refrigerator, washing machine,...? Where can we get electricity? Can we get it from somewhere else but not the power grids?

Blaming Edison is not going to save us from depending on grids (and fossil fuel generating plants). Waiting for new technology is not going to help us -- in developing countries, we must develop new power supply technologies ourselves. Make it safer and cleaner and made in Thailand.

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