Futurepundit On Thin-film Fuel Cells

Lynne Kiesling

OK, I said we were about more than electricity here, but this is cool: Randall Parker’s post on thin-film superconductor technology that may, in time, make large-scale centeral fossil-fuel generation of electric power obsolete. I also think he’s right, that nuclear would still continue to be able to compete (although there’s a large debate about the economics of nuclear, and if it’s really so cheap than why so many government subsidies?).

And here’s an interesting sidebar (interesting to me, at least) … I was getting all geared up to rib Randall gently about using “obsolesce”, which I was convinced is not a word. So I consulted the Oracle, The Oxford English Dictionary, which informed me that obsolesce is indeed a verb, and has been so in English usage since 1873. The form “to obsolete”, meaning the same thing, has a longer pedigree (1640). But I must admit, I’m not fond of either one. Pedant? Me? Naaaah.

UPDATE: Tim Worstall has a post on solid oxide fuel cells inspired by Randall’s post. Check it out!