Imagine a life with no outlets, no cords, but ample electricity. This is the life Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner hasn’t just imagined, but actually demonstrated on Thursday at an annual developers forum in San Francisco.
Rattner showed off a wireless electric power system that analysts say “could revolutionize modern life” by removing the need for transformers, wall outlets, and cords all together. Rattner, on stage, wirelessly sent electricity to a lamp, lighting a 60 watt bulb that uses more power than a typical laptop computer. You may be asking yourself, “Wait a second, isn’t safety a concern having these electric fields all around us?” Worry not, friend. According to Intel researcher Josh Smith, “It turns out the human body is not affected by magnetic fields; it is affected by elective fields. So what we are doing is transmitting energy using the magnetic field not the electric field.” Wireless electricity could be a true reality of the future and raises many interesting questions—especially, “How will I charge my PHEV?”
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Nikola Tesla first experimented with this wireless electric transmission over 100 years ago, I wonder if Rattner is basing his technology on old patents.