Once a technological revolution gets rolling it has the potential to outstrip even the most radical predictions regarding its end point. We might, in other words, lose a lot of wires in the coming decades. Not because we invent our way out of the need for long-distance transmission capacity—efficient wireless transmission of high voltages does not seem to be near at hand—but because distributed generation is bringing electricity production much closer to home. We aren’t (yet) inventing our way around the wires, but we are changing our habits to make them less necessary. However, back in 2008,
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