Moving electricity around the world has huge financial and environmental benefits. Unfortunately, current power transmission systems are both lossy and expensive to build. This post explores an alternative design for cables to make undersea power transmission substantially cheaper. Idea Fused silica (glass) is a really good insulator (500 MV/m, vs 150 MV/mm for XLPE plastic), and is very cheap. By using it as cable insulation, cables can be made substantially thinner and cheaper. Unfortuna...