Subscribe now

Letter: Letter

Published 16 June 2001

From Perry Bebbington

Japan may decide to increase the voltage of its electricity supply from 100
to 230 volts, but this will not necessarily produce the boom in sales of
consumer goods that manufactures might hope for.

First, many electronic household goods, such as TVs and computers, have
“switch mode” power supplies capable of operating on a wide range of supply
voltages, and would operate perfectly well on 230 volts instead of 100 without
any modification.

Secondly, presumably there would be a flourishing cottage industry fitting
100-volt appliances with transformers to enable them to operate on 230
volts.

Nottingham

Issue no. 2295 published 16 June 2001

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

Sign up
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop