January 27, 2014

A pair of academics have warned that brownouts will take place with increasing severity around the world, as demand for electricity for gadgets soars amid inadequate investment.

Soaring demand for air-conditioning, iPads and increasingly electric cars, combined with a growing population and inadequate investment in creaking power networks, is pushing the world towards frequent blackouts, the academics warn in a paper published last week.

The authors, Hugh Byrd of Lincoln University in the UK and Steve Matthewman of Auckland University in New Zealand, argue that the west needs to abandon the idea of uninterrupted electricity supply.…