Wireless Energy Explained - Coming Soon To A Home Like Yours

In the following video, Eric Giler, chief executive of US firm Witricity explains to a BBC reporter how within approximately 18 months we may see wireless electricity for our everyday household appliances, cell phones, and electric cars. The idea is that electricity can now be safely passed without wires over large distances and thus we will be able to install transmitters in our homes and offices that will feed receivers in our devices and eliminate the need for direct connections to the source.



Source: BBC News

Electric utility and Ford team up for plug-in hybrid

Ford Motor Co. and Southern California Edison are teaming up in an attempt to bring plug-in hybrid vehicles to market more quickly. The plug-in hybrid is primarily run on electricity but switches to internal combustion engine when the batteries run low. They are known as plug-in hybrids because the batteries that drive the electric motor is recharged by plugging into a standard wall jack. Mass production of the vehicles, which many manufacturers are prototyping, has been held back by cost and battery technology. The purpose of this partnership, in which the electric utility will get one vehicle by the end of this year and as many as 20 by 2009, is to test the vehicles durability and impact on the power grid. The Globe and Mail has the story here.

Going green at home

Wired, has pushed the electric mower to the limit in this comparrison of 4 models currently on the market. If you are in need of a new mower this summer, consider one of these efficient and clean machines. According to Wired your old gas mower can spew as much pollutants as 11 cars! A little late for Father's Day but dad is probably happier with that tie any way.

Wireless electical supply

If researchers at MIT have it their way we may, some day soon, be free of the wires that tie our electronic devices to their power supplies. Imagine your cellphone charging on it's own without being required to 'plug in', or your laptop working without a battery or an AC adapter. Scientists have known for centuries of several methods of moving energy around without wires, but these methods are either inefficient or potentially dangerous to human life. The MIT researchers have been able to exploit the fact that two resonant objects of the same resonant frequency tend to exchange energy efficiently (the link above has a great explanation). Apparently the science is based on well-known laws of physics and could have been explored long ago had there been a demand for such requirements. While I am in awe of the thought of such developments, I think I'd like this to stay in the lab until we find out that it is really safe to be walking around in. Maybe these guys can get back together for a picture in a couple of years time... no horns or extra appendages and they'll get the thumbs up!