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PuddleCrank t1_j3urksk wrote

Reply to comment by Corey307 in Why doesn’t Vermont bury its power lines? by tcchen

You can't reuse the lines because the underground lines require insulation that the above ground lines do not. Additionally you must have redundancy because it takes weeks to replace under ground lines vs hours for overhead lines.

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UnfairAd7220 t1_j3uz8m8 wrote

That 'insulation' is called a dielectric.

The dielectric is sulfur hexafluoride. You can watch some amusing videos about what happens when people breathe it in.

Unfortunately, its, perhaps, the strongest greenhouse gas known to man and resides in the atmosphere for 3200 years.

That material should be banned on Earth. On Mars it'd be a desirable terra forming gas. Here? its a forever nightmare compound.

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