The free flow of electrons will create the crime of the future

The crime of the future will involve the easy, inconspicuous theft of electricity, and I suggest that the utility infrastructure needs to be prepared for any significant battery breakthrough by either offering significantly lower prices for the generation of electricity, or the on-location (at the outlet) metering of electron flow.

Background:  Flying from PHX to DEN (although everybody still calls it DIA) and in the boarding area were a bunch of teenage girls (a full team) returning from some sporting event.  I didn’t ask if it was basketball or volleyball or whatever.  It didn’t matter and I didn’t really care.  Because all I noticed was that every outlet, as far as the eye could see, was taken by one of those girls trying to charge their phone.

And so the obvious opportunity (and I know others have been working on this) is for the one-minute recharge.  The ultimate free-flow of electrons…from the plug to a capacitor or battery.  Just freely flowing.

Which will turn into the ultimate problem of the future.  Free energy.  Not free, but on somebody else’s nickel.  Right now airports can afford to let you slowly charge your electronic devices to keep you happy while waiting for a flight.  In the grand scheme of things, the cost is probably a rounding error.

But what if the super-battery of the future let you recharge it really quickly?  And what if it were really small?  So that I could take it out of my car, take it in to my office at work and plug it in?  Then suddenly your employer is paying for your commute.  Maybe that’s OK, but what if I had a bigger briefcase and wanted to charge my battery to run my air conditioner at home?

There are public and semi-public outlets everywhere.  The only reason this hasn’t been a real problem yet is that I can’t draw electricity quickly enough to matter.

But one day, it will be a problem.  It will be a real cost that few are prepared for today.

And we’ll either need to govern the delivery of electricity, or make it so cheap that it won’t matter.  I hope for the latter, but the truth is that every utility company in the country NEEDS battery technology to NEVER get light enough, small enough, and cheap enough to allow people to easily store it.  Moore’s law dictates that eventually we’ll have a technology-breakthrough that will in fact allow this (which I believe).  We also need to not lose so much electricity during transport.  Either by local generation (solar, urban-wind), or via super-conducting materials in the transport.

So what happens?  A lockdown of any public outlet?  Metering solutions to slow the flow of electrons unless you’re at a dedicated charging station?  I don’t know yet.  What do you think?