Slashdot Mirror
Wireless Electricity Set to Power Village
freedommatters writes "The UK Sunday Times has a story today about how "Scientists have successfully applied the technology used in microwave ovens to beam electricity without the need for unsightly pylons and overhead cables." A prototype has illuminated a handful of light bulbs and they expect to be able to power a remote village within three years."
I can feel my brain warming already.
Honor Among Slackers. A veri
is obsolete.
I write code.
I wonder if there are risks of this? I mean, how long until their fish have 3 eyes, and children are born with 4 feet? :D
... oh well, as long as it's being tested on some small village and not me
In the beginning they called it lightning, now they call it Wireless Electricity!
Note to self: get smarter troll to guard door.
Is a similar concept. Radiation from the sun converted into electricity.
What safegaurds are there to make sure nothing gets in the way of the beam?
I think theyre going to put wires around it which are held up by pylons...
Slashdot - The one stop shop for procrastination
"Microwaves for the electricity are targeted via antennas and reflectors at a ?rectenna? (from the words rectifier and antenna), "
;-)
I'm glad they defined a rectenna for me...I thought it was an antenna you stuck up your ass!
-psy
Five, Four, Three, Two, One....
But really, now that I think of it, I should have told them that it would have worked if they'd implemented RFC 3251 over 802.11! ;)
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
You don't think a 750kv lines use power levels high enough to induce current flow at a distance? Try taking a flurescent bulb under a HV power line at night sometime.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Well there is plenty of radiation going around from mobile phone masts, which are either being built next to schools or hidden in the price towers of petrol stations. There was a local news report about a village where they've had a mobile phone mast for the past 10 years and the amount of cancer cases has gone up significantly... one woman who has had major problems takes the news team through her house with a radiation detector and the thing buzzes away even more when she goes upstairs! I can't find a link on the web but here is a start
Back to the mobile power, it always makes me think of SimCity 2000 with the Microwave powerplants and the warning of a misdirected beam hitting your city instead of the plant.
Are you local? There's nothing for you here!
C'mon, Sim City has had this for years...
... but one day, he was proven correct.
Nikola invented wireless energy. This is Not News, but it is a Good Thing©.
I suggest you read Slashdot
I remember reading about a proposal to send power to the earth this way. By having a massive solar cell array in space transmitting microwaves to a giant receiver on earth, you could gather lots of energy.
Yeah, the "Proposal" was called Sim City 3000 as I recall. I also recall the "proposal" included random attacks by godzilla.
But on the bright side, all you have to do is lift a hot dog on a stick up into the air, and you've got lunch in under 2 minutes!
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
Think about how much energy needs to be focused to run a small village. Then little jimmy flyes his kite into the energy stream FOOOMP! flaming kite crashes to the ground. Or small plane gets lost and flys into the stream?
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.
High voltage power lines do not cause cancer. There may be a correlation, but it's probably about the same as the correlation of construction workers and cancer patients.
Microwave, however, does tend to cause cancer, boiling, and generally being baked. That's the idea. That's why there's lead in your microwave oven's faceplate. It's really not just there to make it harder for you to see the secrets of the microwave.
Dr. David Carpenter obviously hasn't played SimCity 2000, otherwise he would realize that Microwave Power is the safest kind. Duh.
Hey, looks like Will Smith of Maxis was right. Microwave Power was available after 2020 in Simcity 2000.
Of course, does it also miss sometimes and cause a massive line of fire straight down the middle of your city?
-Ryan
AUWYHSTOT (Acronyms are Useless When You Have to Spell Them Out Too)
So if a bird fly across the beam - the microwave signal will instantly roast the bird?