USB power plug idea

I have a proposal:

Replace electric wall sockets with powered USB ports. I know it's a crazy idea, but it may very well be a good one. What do you think?

Specs: 5V DC, 150-500ma

Pros:

1. You can charge your iAudio/Pod/River, PDAs, handphones
2. You can plug in USB LED lights, fans, pencil sharpeners....any USB powered gadget
3. USB being a standard means that you do not have to bring along any travel adapters when going overseas
4. With devices using the standard 5V USB wall socket format, you can get rid of wall warts
5. You're house will look cool and by extension, you will too

Cons:

1. Based on current USB specs of 5V DC and 500ma, maximum power is a puny 2.5W
2. No grounding for appliances
3. Near impossibility to get the world to use this standard
4. With ever changing(and improving) computer hardware standards: AGP>PCI-Express, IDE>SATA etc...it's a matter of time before the USB standard will be replaced by something better, rendering the devices obsolete

Conclusion:

1. Maximum power of 2.5W per socket is really too small and powering a 100W light bulb will require 40 sockets...definitely a messy site...maybe the sockets can have different color coding to represent different voltages and currents
2. It's a crazy idea after all
   
3. However crazy this idea is, the idea of not requiring power adapters when traveling is nice. Perhaps the best that can come out from this idea is for the world to converge towards using one electric wall socket standard. It will be relatively easy for the power stations to do the voltage conversions. The toughest part will be rewiring buildings. If you look at things objectively, you will discover that the reason for many different standards in the world due to historical baggage and laziness.
   

Technorati Tags: technology, electricity, idea