Doesn't electrical power distribution as used everywhere in the world use the earth itself as a giant white wire?
No.
There are some very rural areas that use SWER (single wire earth return ) systems.
Here is a link to a page with more info.
http://www.ruralpower.org/ I mean, we don't exactly have neutral wires going back to the power stations
3 phase power can be distributed with just 3 'hots' when a neural is required you install a delta / Wye transformer and derive a neutral from there.
Also the utilities use an MGN (muiltigrounded neutral) that does indeed run from the end user back to the power station.
If you think about it you always see a bare conductor run between poles just under the phase conductor(s), that is the MGN.
[This message has been edited by iwire (edited 12-04-2005).]
