In celebration of Nikola Tesla’s birthday yesterday, I thought I would write about something that has happened recently that was something Mr. Tesla dreamed up and achieved almost 100 years ago; wireless energy to power devices. I am not talking about batteries or solar cells or wind farms producing power off the electrical grid, I am talking actually powering devices by pulling energy out of the air! Tesla managed to do this early in his career and was able to power an electric lamp by sending electricity through the air and into his lamp. He used this lamp to help light his laboratory in New York City before there was an electrical grid. Later, he also was able to light lightbulbs that were outside of his laboratory in Colorado Springs, Colorado in the United States. It just goes to show how far ahead the man was as we are just catching up to his research now.
A group of researchers at the University of Washington have just created a device that is able to pull energy out of the air (http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/160634-ambient-backscatter-free-energy-harvesting-from-tv-signals-to-power-a-ubiquitous-internet-of-things) to power itself and send a signal to another unit. It uses television and cellular transmissions as the power source that is floating freely in the air. The device then uses those transmissions to send a message of its own.
The range that this device transmits right now is only a couple of feet but if the technology is improved, it could, in theory, be used to create devices that transmit and receive the internet in places which are impractical today. We could put these devices on bikes and they could have a GPS for the rider. We could put these devices on weather stations out in the middle of the forest that could track the weather and warn us of a fire before it gets out of control. Bridges that are in the wilderness could have devices put on them that can warn us if they have collapsed and need repair. This is only the beginning.
If we have energy that can be plucked out of the air, cell phones wouldn’t need to recharge, they could run off of the energy around them. Small towns in remote locations would now not have to worry about using electricity to run their heating system in the winter. People in Africa could, in theory, have a computer with an internet connection in the middle of the savannah. Endangered animals could have a GPS tracking system hooked up to the internet to show their whereabouts at all times so if someone kills them, a ranger could be dispatched and track down the poacher before he/she is able to escape. Remote areas of the world could be monitored in real time and sent directly to the internet so that researchers can keep track of what is going on.
Since Tesla had already thought of this, he also thought that energy could be created by large generating stations around the world and this power would be free, as it was available to all without a way to monitor individual use. Now I know that we could very easily monitor each individual device and since it is hooked up to the internet, there would be a way to charge the person who owns the device a rate based on how much they have used. Cell phones can do that now. My hope is that governments will see this as an opportunity for everyone to have free power and not to let the free market jump in and make a profit. Saying that though is like saying that poverty will end tomorrow; it isn’t realistic. Still, I think that we live in a time where exciting things are happening all around us. The world is changing fast and we are moving to a future Nikola Tesla saw that seems to be a bright and challenging one.
No comments:
Post a Comment