My understanding is there are two different electrical systems in the
> world, the 220v version the rest of the world uses, and the 110v the
> US uses. In the rest of the world, a fairly large number of residences
> are run off a single transformer, where in the USofA, a much smaller > number are run.
> Multiply by millions and millions of these things all over the place,
> and it is easy to see why, even though it is being reported in the US
> media, the actual action is taking place in a foreign county, in the
> article, it was Japan.
Nice theory, but a few seconds with Google would have saved you the trouble of expounding it. In fact, there are MORE than two different electrical systems in the world; the existence of two chief voltage ranges (110ish vs. 220ish) is only one of the differentiators. The other big one is the frequency of the AC (50 Hz vs. 60 Hz). And there are several different physical connector standards (plugs and sockets) even to serve some of the same voltage/frequency combinations, though of course this does not affect things like transformer load.
The US is hardly alone in using 110v at 60 Hz; so does most of the rest of the western hemisphere. Most of the eastern hemisphere uses
220-240v, but one of the exceptions is in fact Japan, which uses 100v (though part of the country runs at 60 Hz and the other part at 50 Hz). So, any conclusions made on the faulty premise that Japan uses 220v power must be discarded.See
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for a detailed breakdown of the world for all the aforementioned categories.
Bob Goudreau
Cary, NC