[Gllug] OT: Merging UPS outputs

[Alain Williams]

On Thu, Aug 18, 2005 at 12:15:03AM +0100, Richard Jones wrote:
> Why do we run 240 VAC through our houses anyway?  Surely all of these
> transformers and regulators must waste huge amounts of energy.

You could take power at (say) 5 volts -- feed is straight into your
motherboard. The trouble is that everything else would need to
take input at 5 volts. To get the same amount of power (volts X amps)
you would need 50 times the current: which would mean having to have
much thicker cables and a much greater distribution loss (ie loss
in getting from the local substation to you).

In the UK we used to have mains at 240V (efficient & not too lethal),
continental Europe was at 220V and in 1990 all of Europe standardised
on 230 V. This was within the +-6% voltage tolerance that everyone had.
That is the theory - I'm not sure if the changes were made on anything
other than paper.

-- 
Alain Williams
Parliament Hill Computers Ltd.
Linux Consultant - Mail systems, Web sites, Networking, Programmer, IT Lecturer.
+44 (0) 787 668 0256  http://www.phcomp.co.uk/

#include <std_disclaimer.h>
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