It's not even difficult; the power comes to our houses in NA and Japan and some other places /as/ 240v and ws just drop it down. Your stove/oven and (many but not all) dryers and heatpumps/central air systems likely are using them as we speak.

I've always been more than a little confused as to why we don't utilise this more and I know the answer but... I'd really like some instant hot water, y'know?

i mean i could... i technically own a house now but the two electricians i've spoken to thus far vehemently insisted it was impossible and then proceeded to get crabby at me when i provided evidence to the contrary and kept saying "ok but who wants that???" as if i had offended them and their ancestors.

Cultural. The reason is cultural and it's ridiculous. At this point I'm going to just do it myself and get someone to drop by and give my insurance company a thumbs up to assure them I'm not about to burn down the house I guess.

Th archive link isn't loading for me (work firewall), and I don't have access to the paywalled version, but are they suggesting that I must log in to the app every single time I want a cuppa? Cuz if so, that's a non-starter right off the bat! (And if so, I hope it's the satire that it sounds like.)

It's hilarious.

The Economist often has satire columns, mostly related to office or biz absurdities.

I guess you have not seen: https://shop.fieldethos.com/products/the-everything-mug

It’s impressive, in a certain way