## The Physics of Resistance

When a power plant generates electricity, it sends it across hundreds of miles of copper/aluminum wire to reach cities. Copper has electrical resistance. Due to Joule heating ($I^2R$), roughly 5% to 8% of all electricity generated on planet Earth simply burns up as useless heat in the wires before it ever reaches a home. We are burning millions of tons of coal strictly to heat up telephone wires.

### FAQ

**Q: Why don't we replace copper grids with Superconductors with zero resistance?**
A: The Critical Temperature (Tc) limit. Known High-Temperature Superconductors (HTS) like YBCO have zero resistance, but only if they are cooled below -320°F (77 Kelvin). To lay a superconductor cable from Texas to New York, you would have to encase the entire cable in a vacuum-sealed thermos pipe and pump rushing Liquid Nitrogen through thousands of miles of infrastructure using massive cryogenic compressor stations. Until recently, the cost to chill the wire was higher than the value of the electricity saved. The holy grail of physics is finding a material that superconducts at Room Temperature, which would instantly transform the global energy baseline.