Re: Wireless transmission of power,

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Sean Taylor" <sstaylor@xxxxxxxx>


> To start with, power stations are the most inefficient part. The Second
> Law of thermodynamics limits the efficiency of a practical heat engine to
> about 40%.

I'm getting kinda tired of this whole discussion, but I had to jump in on
this part.  Where do you think the energy for the central "transmitter"
would come from?  It would have to be a power plant, and a HUGE one at
that.  The total power consumption of the world in 2002 was over 15
TRILLION KWHrs.  If the load was steady year round, this translates to a
power of about 1.7 GW, not to mention demand loads, etc.  Good luck
building a plant that large, and making a coil from wire that will handle
that kind of power!  We're also ignoring the inefficiency of the Earth and
its atmosphere as conductors, as well as the problem of making the upper
atmosphese conductive - satellite communication would no longer work!
It's time to face reality: The idea of wireless transmission of power for
the world would just not work out.

Sean Taylor, MSEE
Urbana, IL