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62 comments on A Little History of the Affordability of Domestic Energy in Great Britain

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tonyw on June 13, 2008 - 7:12am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Hi Bob,

Very informative post. I remember back in the 60s when there were claims that electricity would be "too cheap to meter" with the advent of nuclear! Of course even back then nobody was proposing to actually supply it for free.

I found this;
"It is not too much to expect that our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter, will know of great periodic regional famines in the world only as matters of history, will travel effortlessly over the seas and under them and through the air with a minimum of danger and at great speeds, and will experience a lifespan far longer than ours as disease yields and man comes to understand what causes him to age."

Lewis L. Strauss
Speech to the National Association of Science Writers, New York City September 16th, 1954.

So, looks like we will soon be at 0 out of 4.

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BobE on June 13, 2008 - 1:25pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Tony,
How about these:

The day must come when electricity will be for everyone, as the waters of the rivers and the wind of heaven. It should not merely be supplied, but lavished, that men may use it at their will, as the air they breathe. In towns it will flow as the very blood of society. Every home will tap abundant power, heat and light like drawing water from a spring.
Émile Zola, ‘Travail’, 1901

and

Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country. Otherwise the country will remain a small-peasant country...
V.I.Lenin, 1920

BobE

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tonyw on June 13, 2008 - 3:27pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Very nice quotes;

I always favour having somthing lavished on me:-)

Strange that Lenin could describe Russia as small.

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62 comments on A Little History of the Affordability of Domestic Energy in Great Britain

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