The primary problem with the current use of electricity is that of electrical resistance. In broad terms, this refers to the "opposition" of the materials to the electricity passing through them. Almost all materials now used to conduct electricity exhibit resistance to some degree or another.

This results in some loss in the electrical power distributed to consumers and users – either in terms of generating heat (which is the reason for cooling fans and "heat sinks" in many electrical appliances – they are needed to dissipate the heat created by electrical resistance) or an outright drop in power throughput – resulting in a very inefficient use of the power generated.

An answer to the problem lies in the development of superconductors – materials in which electrical resistance is zero, which will result in full use of every volt of electricity generated.

The History of Superconductors

Superconductivity was first discovered in 1911, when Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered that mercury cooled to near absolute zero (4 degrees Kelvin, equivalent to minus 452 F or -269 C) with liquid helium resulted in the disappearance of electrical resistance. The research led to a Nobel Prize in physics for Dr. Onnes.

In the succeeding decades, research into superconductivity generated reams of theory aimed at understanding superconductivity (with many scientists involved in research gaining Nobel Prize recognition) while others focused on developing materials that were superconductive.High Temperature Superconductors

The next major breakthrough came in 1986, when IBM researchers Georg Bednorz and Alex Mueller discovered that ceramic superconductors were possible. Prior to their discovery, ceramics were considered as insulators – materials that did not conduct electricity. As such, they were never considered to be of any use in superconductor research. More importantly, the ceramics Bendorz and Mueller used showed superconducting properties at 35K (-238 C).

This was soon followed by Paul Chu of the University of Houston, who discovered superconducting materials at 35K (-182 C), which meant that liquid nitrogen (a well-understood and readily available coolant) could be used for superconductivity.

This led to a boom in research looking into possible applications of superconductivity, especially in the fields of transportation, medicine and electronics. Magnetic levitation is being used in transportation, while Magnetic Resonance Imagining (MRI) grew in popularity.

High Temperature Superconductors: The Promise of the Future

The main downside to superconductors is the need to expose the materials to extreme cold in order for the superconductive property to kick in. Since 1911, the year when superconductivity was discovered, the drive has been on to develop a superconductive material that can function at room temperature (thus eliminating the need for bulky and cumbersome equipment).

This is the major reason why the application of superconductors to electrical generation and distribution has been slow – the first power plants supplying electricity generated and distributed with superconductors began their test runs in 2001, mostly for a limited number of households.

Breakthroughs in superconductor materials and technology are rapidly closing the gap; success in these fields would, conceivably, result in cheap ways of generating and distributing electricity.