Cordless electricity: is it the future?

Do you find electrical power cords a nuisance? Are you fed up with tripping over your laptop's power cord on the way to unplug your cell phone charger? Well, all this could be a thing of the past within the next 12 months as electronic devices, such as phones and personal, computers could start shedding their power cords.

WiTricity CEO, Eric Giler, claims that his company are capable of powering light bulbs using cordless electricity that travels several feet from a power socket. WiTricity's version of cordless electricity - which converts power into a magnetic field and sends it through the air at a particular frequency - still needs to be refined further, he said, but should be commercially available soon. Giler 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 added that the technology is aimed at "attacking" the huge energy wasting involved when people buy and then throw away disposable batteries on such a regular basis.

The company believe the technology could also help to revolutionize the electric car industry by making the green-machines more attractive to consumers, because they will be able to power up their vehicles simply by driving into a garage that's fitted with a wireless power mat.

Despite the idea of "sending electricity through the air" being around for over a century, making wireless electricity technology safe and cheap enough to put on the market has been the biggest test for researchers.

Current technology that converts electricity into something that is transferable without the use of a wire are commercially available, but they all have their limits.

Low-level power:

One set of researchers is able to send power over long distances but in very small amounts. For example, in 2003, a Pennsylvania company called Powercast used radio waves to light a low-power LED bulb, 1.5 miles from its power source.

Now, Powercast's technology is used in office buildings to power temperature sensors that regulate air conditioning systems and in other low-power applications. However, radio waves are unable to transfer the larger amounts of electricity needed to power laptops or mobile phones.

Power Pads:

A type of wireless electricity technology that can send large amounts of power over very small distances, often not more than a few centimetres.

Such technology is available today, but only with limited uses. For example, electric toothbrushes that sit on charging cradles but don't actually plug in.

Ultimately, Giler's company wants to combine the best of both - large amounts of power sent over long distances. Their technology is called "magnetically coupled resonance." It basically sends a magnetic field through the air at a specific frequency that an enabled phone or TV can pick up and turn back into electricity - working in a similar way to sound.

Cordless electricity could be extremely beneficial, especially to the environment. For example, companies make about 40 billion disposable batteries each year, and wireless electricity could eradicate this problem. So, it looks like cordless power really could be the future of electricity - let's hope it isn't too expensive.

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