Wireless transmission of power...?

Question

...when is it coming?

I've been waiting for what seems like decades for it. Is it peeping its head around the corner nowadays?

Answer 1

there's definately research going on, but the efficiency is still much too low to be practical, especially in todays "green" ecology friendly enviroment.

the recent BBC article mentions 60% efficiency of power transmission, this is much too low to be acceptable for general usage but may be usable for certain apllications.

Answer 2

nicola tesla first did this over a 100 yeas ago,

there are modern ways to do this, mostly microwave,
china is looking into building a space based solar energy collector, and microwaving the energy to earth.

a quick search makes it looks like they are still working on it,
but I remember seeing this in a place where they did it across a large distance because it would have been to hard to run wires in that location, but I can't find on the web, or remember what country or power company, maybe I remembered wrong.

so, it is possible, but likely will not ever make it to someones home, wires are really low priced and safe.

Answer 3

Keep waiting (and dreaming), but don't hold your breath. The losses are too great for practical wireless transmission. The best bet is laser beams, but even there the losses are so great that, unless there is no other way (such as in space) they just can't compete.

Answer 4

Actually achieving wireless power transmission is not that difficult. The problem is making the power transmission go where it ought to rather than generating several hundred volts in your keyring in your pocket as you pass the power transmitter.

Answer 5

Some things already use it, like powered toothbrushes, that you simply place back in the holder with no electronic connections. Witricity is what they're caling it at MIT, where they've optimized it to actually work well for distances of a few feet.

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2007/06/mit_discovery_c.html

Answer 6

IT HAS BEEN PROVEN ALREADY!!!!

http://technologyreview.com/Energy/18836/

You gotta read the news :). Though it is hard to say when it will be available to consumers, maybe years or even decades. Plus there are never-ending environmental considerations and politics, etc... etc...

Bottom line. Tesla proposed it, now some guys at MIT showed it can be done, and this should be the best answer :)

Answer 7

Not really, it was experiments with transmitting power by microwaves that produced the microwave oven when they noticed that things in the path of the beam had a tendency to burst into flames.

Answer 8

It's definitely in the development stage and has been proved to work, but I wouldn't like to hold my breath waiting for it to become standard use.
There was a news item about it recently but can't remember exactly where.......sorry.