Great idea. In fact, it was one of many that drove Nikola Tesla mad.

The Transmission of Electric Energy Without Wires

The alternative method of transmiting power through radiation is questionable from the point of view of health.There is concern that intense radiation can affect living cells adversely. Cell phone use is under question in this matter and the intensity here is much less than in power transmission.

With a house properly wired to code WRT outlet location, there should be no need to find outlets.

Electric power cables represent one of those things that the vast majority of people accept as inevitable and unavoidable. They don't even notice how inconvenient they are.

It is a testament to how "open" your mind is that you are questioning such things, noticing how much better things would be without power cables. I too think about these kinds of things all the time... curse or gift?

I was trained as an Electrical Engineer, but it has been a while. I believe that there are solutions that use microwave radiation, but as another reader mentioned, you wouldn't want to be anywhere near it unless you are bringing your frozen TV dinner.

However, I do think that the problem IS solvable, we just need to peel back the onion a few more layers.

We need to figure out how to generate electricity (power?) in a very small portable way, like chemical fuel cells but without any need to recharge or refuel. This would involve a way to tap into some sort of universally available energy source, yet to be identified. I suppose we could broadcast the energy source 'field' ourselves, but the optimal solution would be to find one already available to tap in to.

Perhaps we can take adavantage of the Earth's magnetic field in some way. Have you heard of Edward Leedskalnin and the Coral Castle? Search the Internet and you can read his beliefs about electricity and magnetism that stray far from the mainstream (he did not need electrons to explain electromagnetic phenomenon, instead talking about north and south 'magnets,' which cause electricity to flow bidirectionally - he says we are simply ignoring half of the electricity we are generating!). I am not saying Edward was right about much (he was clearly a kook), but maybe there is a clue in his work to show us where mainstream science has missed something.

After all...Between the 1930's and 50's he built a castle near Miami of giant coral blocks using a mysterious technique to lift and positions the blocks (some compared to the great pyramid blocks in size). He always worked alone. His technique went with him to his grave. It was said that he tried to explain once to a high school physics teacher and was laughed out of the building. He never tried again. Edward had a fourth grade education from Lithuania.

Good Luck!

Nate betterdifferent.com

I cannot believe someone actually has voted against this idea! It is fantastic.

In fact the AbioCor artificial heart does just that. I cannot wait for the day I can put my speakers where I want without having to worry about either the power or the audio cables!

It is not a matter of voting against the final convenience, it is a matter of examining the possibilities to accomplish this and presenting the difficulties and dangers with current methods. One might as well propose a lamp to evoke a genii to grant wishes. Accomplishing this through human capabilities is altogether a different matter.

I thought the site was called "Why Not?"

Precisely. If the site were named "Why For", you might have a point.

Also discussed at the bakery.

In La Reunion French Island in Indian Ocean (a paradise where I was born), an energy transportation experiment is in progress. Electrical power is beamed wirelessly to a very isolated village in the island's mountains (see photos here).

About 10 KW of microwaves is beamed from a station over high cliffs to a receptor array in the valley.

At the reception point, the beam is wide enough to be "diluted" and totally harmless. The reception station extends over the wide targeted area, and collects much of the energy initially emitted.

It's exactly what a satellite dish does: everyone in the street gets the same harmless amount of radio energy from the satellites. But a dish concentrates this energy, received from a wide area, into a small reception point, for detection.

Besides, the microwave wavelength used in the French experiment is different from the ovens', and do not heat the water in living cells.

However, to be on the safe side, the access to the reception field is restricted. It is noticeable that plants still grow healthy in this area, and regarding biological effects of radiations, we are no different from grass!

Nevertheless, this would not work for household appliances. A TV eats 100,000 times as much energy as radiated by a cell phone. Unless you equip it with a reception array acres wide, one would have to concentrate that much energy into a reasonably small reception area (say, less than the screen size), and this would probably prove harmful!

Besides, I don't think it is a good idea in ecological terms. Most of the energy emitted won't be caught by anything (just like satellites spend most of their power to send radio waves to land, lakes, seas, forests, and a ridiculously small part reaches dishes!). So if you need to feed, say, 10,000W, you'd have to emit 1000 or 10,000 times more in the first place, unless you transform your house into an oven that reflects waves inward... I wouldn't like to live in there!

Too much of the electricity is produced by burning fossil or nuclear fuel to afford such a large scale waste.

Regarding the La Reunion experiment, much of the energy emitted is actually collected, and while some energy is still lost, the waste is lower by orders of magnitude. It integrates into wider research projects, that aim at collecting solar energy from orbit, and beaming them to ground-based acres-wide plants. When (if) the concept proves feasible and the ratio between the energy spent to build and install the ground and orbit facilities, and the energy produced, become favorable, it might become a nice, ecological power source...