From: The World of Science Article 4115 Posted: April 1, 2015
The world is running out of electrons. Electric costs soar, while electrical power capacity continues to decline. It now takes nearly twice the amount of water power, coal, or nuclear energy to turn a turbine for the same electrical output amounts previously generated by half that amount of source energy. This decline will continue to get worse each and every year.
The cause of this is easy to understand. The world is using too much electricity and thus too many electrons are being consumed. Modern electronics are being used in nearly everything these days, from engine control on vehicles, to televisions, cell phones, computers, games, as well as industrial production and home use of electricity and electronics. The more electrical power we use, the more electrons we consume.
It's estimated that by the year 2020, we will begin to see entire cities go black, or suffer long term brownouts, and/or sporadic power interruptions. Lighting will be dim, and electronic devices will cease to operate, or will operate very slowly. For example, your computer may begin to run slower than those old computers prior to the year 1985. Microsoft is already attempting to design an operating system which uses less electrons, but this has been hushed from the public to eliminate panic, until now.
"It will only get worse". These are the words of many top scientists all over the world. Like anything, no resource is infinate, and there are limitations. Just like the shortage of oil that will soon occur worldwide, there is a shortage of electrons, and this may actually have a bigger impact on our lives. It will soon become too expensive to produce electricity, and we will have to go back to using candles for lighting, animals instead of electric motors to power our devices, and computers, cellphones, television and so on, will become a thing of the past.
Until then, everyone is being asked to cut back on their use of electricity and electronics. Turn off unneeded lights, limit computer, phone, and television use, and avoid using electrical power for heating whenever possible. This will prolong the inevitable, but not entirely stop our severe loss of electrons.
Scientists worldwide are attempting to find a method to "grow" new electrons, but so far, all attempts have failed. Whether this is possible, no one can say for sure. All we can do is to conserve the electrons we still have, while preparing for the day when all of our modern electrical devices will cease to function.