NationStates Jolt Archive

Category: Free Trade
Strength: Significant
Proposed by: Eastern Martinsylvania

Description: Throughout the industrialized nations of the world, there are dozens of variations of wall sockets and electrical voltages. Business travelers and tourists must be prepared, thus, have adapters to power such devices as computers and other personal electronics.

A standard socket configuration, to be determined by members in the UN, would be developed. In conjunction with the standard socket, a standard voltage range would also be required. This voltage must be determined and agreed upon again by members of the UN.

In the end, standardizing these things will allow money to be spent on local and global commerce, rather than on worthless adapters. The implications of such an agreement would have a very strong influence on global free trade.

Collaborated with: WISSNX01

What do you guys think? If you agree, go ahead and support it in the UN

By all that is doomed to eternal damnation, why do we have another one of these? I thought we permanently killed this idea.

Description: Throughout the industrialized nations of the world, there are dozens of variations of wall sockets and electrical voltages. Business travelers and tourists must be prepared, thus, have adapters to power such devices as computers and other personal electronics.

Yeah, that's pretty accurate. Even more so when you start adding in advanced technology.

A standard socket configuration, to be determined by members in the UN, would be developed. In conjunction with the standard socket, a standard voltage range would also be required. This voltage must be determined and agreed upon again by members of the UN.

The differences in sockets, both in configuration and voltage limit, results in part from a difference in use. What you are suggesting is a universal socket, which is both idiotic and impossible due to the wide variety of uses to which electrical sockets are put. For example, the electrical sockets within my ion cannons sometimes are designed to handle power equal to the output of a fusion reactor, which can require hundreds of plugs on a single socket. The reason why this configuration is used is that is allows for easier interchange of parts, as all you have to do is unplug it and don't need to worry about having to take apart the entire cannon.

In the end, standardizing these things will allow money to be spent on local and global commerce, rather than on worthless adapters. The implications of such an agreement would have a very strong influence on global free trade.

The adapters are part of local and global commerce, so this actually may take money out of them.

What do you guys think? If you agree, go ahead and support it in the UN

I think you need to not bother with this.

It's an interesting premise, and the idea is a very interesting one. It seems like a fairly decent proposal for a worthy cause, and I like your style.

That being said, there's no way in hell that this would work. The trouble with it is that you're not simply asking member nations to change some abstract standard; you're asking them to completely restructure their electric systems. What standardizing voltage and outlets would require would be for members to do no less than go into every home, business, and practically everything else, rip out their wall sockets, and replace them-all of them-with a U.N. approved system. And once they've accomplished that, they will still need to standardize the actual voltage, and quite possibly the amperage, produced by their power stations, all of which are already set for a different standard as per whatever their nation has deemed. This would require anything from reconfiguring to completely replacing huge amounts of industrial equipment. Furthermore, the appliances used by the citizens of member nations would also have to be replaced by compatible systems, as they simply would not run on the new standard. Precision electronics in particular can be ravaged by unsupported power standards. Obviously, most people and businesses would not have the money to replace every piece of equipment they owned. And possibly worst of all, if the distribution network of a nation could not handle an increase in voltage mandated by a U.N. standard, virtually all of their power grid would have to be dug up and replaced.

So basically, while it is an interesting concept, the amount of capital needed to implement it would be obscene. In order to implement it member nations would have to hemorrhage money. But don't let this discourage you. Do keep thinking up resolution.

i'm sick of good ideas being bashed, first of all it would stop all this crap about adapters and god knows everyone is tired of those fackin things we need to get back to basics and show the world we're not just here to make money off them we're here to make peoples lives happier at our own sacrifice.

also i was thinking what if the only places we changed were tourist areas that way when it comes to someones "cannon" they could still use thier own out-let so just take a look into doing that it wouldn't cost much because now people will have to buy our "tourist" appliances that fit into the outlets.

Im intrigued, most nations around the RL world now only have two different sockets. Companies do not produce any other types as they know that the restructuring process needed absorption of new sockets into the commercial market would ruin them.

What if nations were to implement a 20 year phasing program? Yes there would be some houses at the end with the old sockets but hey most of the new houses would now be universal.

I'm not saying we follow a one size fits all policy though. That would be stupid. All I'm suggesting is that we universalise (or get close to) home power sockets.

i'm sick of good ideas being bashed,

Point me towards a good idea and I'll try not to bash it.

first of all it would stop all this crap about adapters and god knows everyone is tired of those fackin things we need to get back to basics and show the world we're not just here to make money off them we're here to make peoples lives happier at our own sacrifice.

Actually, adapters are easy to deal with. Stick a requirement about sockets shape into all imports and it's dealt with. As for basics: If we went back to basics, we wouldn't have electricity, and thus wouldn't have this problem in the first place.

Oh, and we are here to make money off the world, or at least use it to our own advantage. We don't, someone else takes advantage of us. Basic nature of the game.

also i was thinking what if the only places we changed were tourist areas that way when it comes to someones "cannon" they could still use thier own out-let so just take a look into doing that it wouldn't cost much because now people will have to buy our "tourist" appliances that fit into the outlets.

Please, try to separate your ideas into multiple sentences instead of writing an entire paragraph and only using the period at the end. It will make what you are saying actually legible. As it is, I can't quite tell exactly what you were trying to say, so I'm forced to take a wild guess and hope I hit your arguement.

Okay, I think you're babbling on about the point of socket differences brought up earlier. Here's a simple fact: The proposal does not include anything about differences, but just covers all sockets in its wording. Thus, the point I made is quite valid due to a wording issue.

Im intrigued, most nations around the RL world now only have two different sockets. Companies do not produce any other types as they know that the restructuring process needed absorption of new sockets into the commercial market would ruin them.

Thank God! Complete sentences! Grammar! I could almost kiss you.

That would be nice if this were the RL world. Unfortunately, it's not, and quite a few of us use our own socket designs.

What if nations were to implement a 20 year phasing program? Yes there would be some houses at the end with the old sockets but hey most of the new houses would now be universal.

It would take closer to forty, due to having to rework the entire electrical grid. As such, it is not allowed for a UN issue. UN resolutions have all of their effects either take effect immediately or not at all, with no possibility of a middle ground.

I'm not saying we follow a one size fits all policy though. That would be stupid. All I'm suggesting is that we universalise (or get close to) home power sockets.

That's a better idea, but it still requires a complete reworking of electrical grids.

The last time one of these came to the UN, I messaged the guy saying "It would be easier to just hand out the adapters at the airports than to rewire EVERYTHING".

One must remember cost vs benefit. The cost for this resolution and most similar ones (I won't say all because someone might get lucky and strike gold one day - y'know, never say never) would be too great for only the benefit of what I would consider to be a rather minor annoyance.

This places an unacceptable financial burden on poor nations.

Mathieu Vergniaud
Deputy Speaker to the UN

For example, the electrical sockets within my ion cannons sometimes are designed to handle power equal to the output of a fusion reactorYou plug your ion cannons into a socket?! What kind of idiocy is this? A universal socket is the least of your concerns in this case. The maid crippling your defence by unplugging your weapons would be a bigger concern.

And, of course, her exploding vacuum as she plugs it in.

This strikes me as the representative from The Mighty Space Empire desperately scrambling for a reason to complain. Unless, of course, The Might Space Empire has yet to master direct connections for their energy weapons.

Do your galactic cruisers have jumper-cables too?


That being said, there are legitamate reasons that sockets are different. While my coffee pot may only need 110 volts to brew that sweet sweet java, my clothes dryer requires more power, which is why it runs on a 220 socket. The author should keep these concerns in mind.

-Chancellor Birdstuff