It’s been more than 200 years since the widespread implementation of the steam engine.
Why is this still the most prevalent means of producing electricity? With things like fusion reactors, why is it so hard to convert the thermal energy into electrical energy?
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Mostly because we havn’t really found any other effective ways to generate electricity in large amounts. Not only that, you also have to remember that we have been using steam to generate power, electrical or otherwise, for the better part of 2 centuries.
That is 2 centuries of research going into making that process as efficient as possible. Even if we found a new means of generating energy that has the potential to replace steam, we would have to do decades of research before it even begins to approach the amount of research done into making steam as efficient as it is.
Even if we found a way that has the potential to replace steam, we would still have to do decades of work to remotely catch it up to where steam is now. Unless it supercedes steam so massively that this research isn’t necessary, we’re not likely to have it replace steam anytime soon.
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