It’s hard to imagine doing away with power cords for our laptops but that’s exactly what one company specialising in wireless electricity predicts.
Eric Giler, CEO of recently dumbfounded spectators when he gave a ten minute demonstration at the TED Global Conference 2009 on what could be done with WiTricity’s version of wireless electricity by wirelessly powering a television set.
WiTricity’s version of wireless electricity would allow laptop computers, mobile phones, games controllers and even electric vehicles to have power without going anywhere near a plug and according to Giler, this could become a reality in less than a year.
The technology is called “magnetically coupled resonance” where power is basically converted into a magnetic field which is then sent through the air at a particular frequency.
The idea of wireless electricity itself isn’t new, back in the 19th century electricity genius Nikola Tesla was talking about the possibility of sending electricity through the air.
Since then a few companies have managed to produce technology that allows some sort of power to be transmitted through the air but it’s limited to low power over short distances.
What we need is the ability to send larger amounts of power over longer distances so that we can power the likes of laptops and television sets and that’s exactly what Giler and is colleagues are doing.
Is it safe? Now that’s a question that many are bound to ask and according to the WiTricity website, not only is it safe, it is safer than electricity.
“WiTricity’s technology is a non-radiative mode of energy transfer, relying instead on the magnetic near field” says the website.
“Magnetic fields interact very weakly with biological organisms” which means its considered safe for people and animals.
The site quotes world renowned physicist Sir John Pendry of Imperial College London who says “The body really responds to electric fields….But it doesn’t respond to magnetic fields. As far as we know the body has almost zero response to magnetic fields in terms of the amount of power it absorbs”.
Still, there’s bound to be a few concerns and hurdles to overcome before we can truly reap the benefit of a life without wires.
According to Giler the biggest barrier to getting the technology adopted is that people just aren’t familiar with the idea.
“Five years from now, this will seem completely normal” he said.
In a word, wow!Your browser may not support display of this image.
