CNN.com/Technology

(CNN) — Electronics such as phones and laptops may start shedding their power cords within a year.

Wireless electricity may soon make tangled power cords a thing of the past.

That’s the prediction of Eric Giler, CEO of WiTricity, a company that’s able to power light bulbs using wireless electricity that travels several feet from a power socket.

WiTricity’s version of wireless electricity — which converts power into a magnetic field and sends it sailing through the air at a particular frequency — still needs to be refined a bit, he said, but should be commercially available soon.

Giler, whose company is a spinoff of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology research group, says wireless electricity has the potential to cut the need for power cords and throw-away batteries.

“Five years from now, this will seem completely normal,” he said.

Thanks for the heads up to the video Jägermeister.




  1. bobbo, I gotta look this up says:

    Sure seems like this would cause a lot of power losses even with a directed beam? And in the case of directed beams of “energy” adding to the electromagnetic pollution:

    Sign me up for the tinfoil ball sack.

  2. GaryV says:

    Giler’s TED talk:
    http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html

    He demos a wireless monitor, and iPhone.

  3. pecker says:

    Looking at their website you have to dig quite deep to get any real facts about this product. They do have two scientific papers, the summary of one says:

    “…transfer over distances up to 8 times the radius of the coils. We were able to transfer 60 watts with ~40% efficiency over distances in excess of 2 meters”

    40% sounds really bad when you can get close to 100% just by plugging something in. I thought our new world order masters want us all to save energy – maybe this is just to fry our brains.

  4. Chris1 says:

    Nothing new here. Nikola Tesla invented this a long time ago. What stopped him was to move significant power over a distance, voltages get high and things start arcing. Its a basic physics problem that hasn’t been solved.

    Also, there could be health issues with very strong electric fields, not to mention radio interference.

    Chris1

  5. amodedoma says:

    This is ridiculous! Not only is it EXTREMELY inefficient, it fills the area with electromagnetic energy. Where is this a good thing!? You want wireless use rechargeables, if you can charge them with an alternative energy source, better still. I use a 20000 Mah solar panel battery combo like this -> http://chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/high-capacity-solar-charger-battery-for-pc-laptop-mobile-phone/

  6. Faxon says:

    Terrible idea considering the interference and heat loss. Terrible.

  7. Buzz says:

    I like how they claim “It needs to be refined a bit,” meaning the laws of electromagnetic interaction need to be tweaked a tad.

  8. bobbo, not a scientist says:

    I thought the basic problems of this technology were solved by using a wire?

  9. pecker says:

    # 3
    Thanks for the video link Jag.

    The guy doing the talk says it’s perfectly safe because we are already living in the Earth’s magnetic field. Well sorry, the Earth’s field doesn’t alternate at near radio frequencies.
    Unfortunately the only two papers on the company’s website are sequestered in a journal pay-site so it’s hard to find any real facts.

    My money is on this being like be like mobile phones. They’ll spend 10 years selling the things before they bother to do any animal tests, find out they cause tumors and then try and cover things up.

  10. Turing Machine says:

    hello MMF magneto motive force

    meh “converts power into a magnetic field”

    how i laughed

    damn armatures

  11. Jason says:

    Electricians will kill all the developers 😀

    And if they don’t the copper barons will…

    But seriously. Can you imagine the impact on the copper and electrician trades/industries if this really does get refined to the point of usability and reasonably efficient transfer?

  12. Obvious1 says:

    Didn’t Tesla come up with this, like, 100 years ago?

  13. KMFIX says:

    If they could get it up to 80% or 90% efficient, they’d really have something.. I’m sure one day they will, or another technology…

    But when SoCal has to do rolling black outs when there is extreme electricity use, usually from air conditioners, there’d be rolling black outs all the time if there was only 40% of the power that there is now..

  14. Dallas says:

    This is a fantastic, practical implementation of cutting the last cord. In fact, I have one at home now – my electric tooth brush.

    Hopefully, the end of all of those wasteful transformers that one gets with every frigg’n electronic gadgets.

    Unfortunately, the Republicans in here are resisting this as being a Communist plot to kill grandma. Sheesh.

  15. sargasso says:

    In Soviet Russia, energy from Lenin brain light all Moscow.

  16. Alfred666 says:

    Why not just get everybody to run across carpet and touch door knobs?

  17. EvilPoliticians says:

    Thankfully there are more intelligent people here than investors in this project.

    (#16 Dallas represents the exceptions. Perhaps the wireless energy toothbrush has been too close to the brain…)

    Wireless will never be more efficient than direct wired connection. Until the alien technology at Area 51 is made public, the laws of physics will not change.

  18. jescott418 says:

    I have always had a few questions. One is will type of power delivery create lots of interference? Also, since their will be a lot of electrical waves going through and around our bodies will this create problems with our health? I certainly do not claim to know much about this technology but it appears that it could have some negatives that are not being addressed.

  19. RSweeney says:

    I can only imagine the lawyers this will support.

  20. Dallas says:

    #20 it’s safe. Stick your finger in the cradle that charges your electric toothbrush. Similar wireless power tranfer but over millimeter distances. The only thing that may happen is your hair turns blond.

  21. Greg Allen says:

    Electric cars seem like a natural use for this product — there could be special charging parking lots and maybe even stretches of road.

    The cordless distance could be very close — virtually touching, which I assume would increase the efficiency.

    Much better than plugging-in.

    However, the safety of it nags at me. I’m not prone to paranoia about these things but it does seem like a potential danger.

  22. deowll says:

    Wireless electricity has been around for a long time. Tesla came up with it first. It works. The problem is most of the power is wasted.

  23. LibertyLover says:

    I’m curious as to how this will affect the bees.

    http://tinyurl.com/l58ctg

  24. LibertyLover says:

    #25, I forgot to add 😛

  25. Uncle Patso says:

    Just be sure to remove all jewelry, metal zippers, partial dentures or bridges, surgically implanted screws and pins, those rivets on your Levi’s jeans, wire-rim glasses, spiral-bound notebooks, delicate electronics (computers, MP3 players, TVs, etc.). You may need to replace all the metal nails holding your home together with plastic zip ties as well.

    On the face of it, this sounds like a BAD idea. I can totally see it for things like toothbrushes, phones, laptops, etc. where the thing being charged is very close (1mm or less) to the charging pad, but distances measured in feet? No way.

  26. soundwash says:

    -given what we ignore, this is an insane idea.

    and people wonder why the government rushed in to confiscate all of Tesla’s papers & work when he died, (in the name of national security, of course)

    Given the huge wealth of data on the extreme detrimental effects that pulsing electromagnetic energy has on cell biology, DNA and behaviour, i’m guessing the people pushing this tech have major stock in the health care industry.

    The Russians have done huge work in this area. -they pay hazard pay to all who work around hi-power electromagnetic or RF energy radiating devices. this includes telecom switch houses, electric generation plants radar faculties and the like.

    to affirm it, their maximum allowable “safe” RF energy exposure specs are 10x lowers than ours. -i believe that was in the 70’s iirc.

    -if the people here only knew how much info is being suppressed in this area..

    -feel sorry for anyone who lives on the top floor of an apartment building with a bank of cell phone repeaters sitting above their window. (not to mention the long term effects of blue tooth headsets)

    #25 -yeah, i think it’s pretty sad that both scientists and governments around the world completely ignore well documented EM energy effects on Bees. (as well migratory birds)

    All the drumming aside, it wouldn’t surprise me if the devices actually extract radiant energy from the surrounding aether and use the whole “wireless transmission” malarkey as a cover.

    It’s only way i can see it being efficient enough *and safe* for household use.

    -i mentioned a month or so ago, that we would start seeing devices based on new magnetics. -did not think they would show ’till January

    -s

  27. rick says:

    We’ve heard this before and it never came to light.

  28. soundwash says:

    of course, the other fun thing you can do with EM resonance is mind control..

    -just look at all the frequencies we know of already for brainwave entrainment.

    “here, allow to install these coils into your walls, for your wireless convenience–muhahahhhaaa.

    -i kid you not.

  29. JPD says:

    Grandpa Munster did this back in the 60s.It blew out all the streetlights on Mockingbird lane.


0

Bad Behavior has blocked 6950 access attempts in the last 7 days.