Industrial applications of superconductivity are a 'Sacred Chalice' of applied research. The possibility of making the electric current flow without encountering any resistance whatsoever – a possibility experimentally proven at temperatures close to absolute zero – it would lead to efficiency gains capable of creating a new industrial revolution, if only superconductivity could be replicated at more affordable temperatures.
Successful experiments have been conducted in Japan transmission of electricity along cables of superconducting materials, wrapped in a sheath in which liquid nitrogen flows. The experiment involved a 240-meter long section of wiring in a Tokyo Electric Power Co. substation and the transmitted energy was considerable, enough for the needs of 50 thousand residences.
This experiment, destined to be repeated over greater distances, even if commercialization is still far away, has halved what is one of the biggest problems of the electricity distribution network: loss due to dispersion. The result was not 'zero losses' because the additional energy needed to cool the cables was also taken into account.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201210300037
