A recent article on CNN highlighted that wireless electricity may not be far out in the future. What impact would such a technology have on our lives? Well, it will depend on the power of the technology and its ease of usage. As of now, wireless electricity can either be used over long distances (~1-2 miles) but with very low power (e.g., to light a low power LED bulb) or over short distances (few cms) with high power. Apparently, it has been quite a challenge to come up with wireless electricity over long distances with high power. One question that comes to mind is: How do we ensure safe propagation of high power over the air? If this technology comes to light, how would it change things we do. Well, we would no longer need battery chargers for our cell phones, laptops, PDAs, mp3 players, etc. That would be good :-) How would it impact research on power-saving? That would largely remain unaffected because power would still need to be generated, it is only the transmission that is being changed. It is much like moving from wired network connectivity to a wireless one. Here is a cool video by folks part of the the Intel Seattle's Wireless Energy project. They demo the lighting of a bulb using wireless electricity.
