Could you go an hour…or even a minute without
using it?
Many of us would struggle.
Now imagine a how future without it.
Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest
Questions, I am Rebecca Felgate and today
we’re asking what if the world ran out of
electricity?
Firstly, it is important to state for those
that don’t know, you can’t RUN OUT of
electricity so to speak.
Electricity is a creation, not a natural resource…
to create electricity you need to spin magnets
with copper wire, but the process of spinning
requires energy, which we can get from a number
of ways.
Green energy is energy harvest from nature,
like solar panels or wind turbines.
We can also create energy with natural gas,
however harmful sources of energy are coal
burning our nuclear energy, which release
toxic emissions.
Many power plants that use thermal energy
to spin the copper and magnets to create electricity
are only 35 per cent efficient, which means
for every 100 units of thermal energy, only
35 are converted into electric energy.
So you see now, at the moment, a lot of electricity
takes more than it gives, which is problematic.
Now you know that, lets imagine a world where
we are no longer able to generate electricity.
Initially, if the electricity snapped off,
there would be a period of confusion.
Everything chargeable would gradually die
and there would be a time of chaos and luting,
which would mean people plundering food stores
until they were bare.
Then, for everybody who was able to get through
that reasonably unscathed, a long hard period
of adjustment would follow.
Business has developed alongside electricity
for over a hundred years now, jobs that we
had back then do not exist today, and learning
to generate income without electricity would
take a long time with a hefty adjustment period.
People would be forced to turn to more pastoral
jobs, like farming.
Although, without electricity, farming would
be pretty difficult and we would need to revert
to olden day techniques of ploughing and fertilizing.
Modern electrical equipment has sped up farming
at a rate needed to supply the worlds bulging
population.
Without this speed, farming would take longer,
prices would raise, and people may starve.
That being said, perhaps without electricity,
more people would turn to that line or work,
and perhaps more people would turn to their
own back yards to grown food…which would
be nice.
Transportation would get a lot harder.
Many subway trains and cross country trains
are electronic.
Without them, we would probably be forced
to return to steam engines, which are pretty
cool, so no huge hate there, even if there
are a lot lot slower.
While rudimentary aeroplanes could function
without electricity, modern day jets wouldn’t
be able to fly, so say good bye to the commercial
passenger jet and hello to ye olde steam boat,
the problem is, most of them that still exist
are out of commission.
I would say you could kiss goodbye to easy
overseas parcel delivery, but to be honest
without electricity the chances of that are
slim anyway.
While electric cars would cease to be useful,
in theory without electricity people could
still drive cars.
While headlights and car sound systems wouldn’t
work, we may be able to adapt to find a way
to get around.
Engines work by internal combustion, not electricity.
Modern cars do have batteries that require
electricity, which is a problem, but early
automobiles didn’t so we would need to return
to what is left of those or make new ones.
Hopefully we would find a way to harness firelight
to our advantage, meaning we wouldn’t have
to be night time hermits …. However it is
certain that a lack of electricity would affect
our social interaction….Board game and chill?
Movies and TV shows will be a thing of memory
and maybe people will amuse themselves by
performing scenes from them to one another,
and things like Gam of Thrones over time will
seem like a great fable.
What will be interesting is the shift in economic
global power.
Countries that rely on electricity will struggle
whereas second and third world countries with
a lesser reliance on it may take the opportunity
to increase their trading power.
We could see a huge global shift of power.
After the short term issues of dealing with
chaos and candle quests, the biggest problem
facing a world without electricity would re-learning
the old ways of creating things before the
great switch on….
We’re so used to electricity aiding our
every-day life, we forget that we can live
without it, and we did live without it for
thousands of years.
So, what do you think the world would be like
without electricity?
Let me know in the comments section below.
Do you think that we could live happily?
I think I could adjust but it would be pretty
traumatic.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Life’s
Biggest Questions… what would you like to
see next on this channel?
Do let me know…of course if you like our
content, please do give this video a thumbs
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its red….you can’t miss it.
I am Rebecca Felgate, I’ll see you in the
next video, for now stay curious, stay alert
and never ever stop questioning!
