Political and Legal Wireless

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Modern society continually places greater demands on mobility and accessibility. The wireless trend is growing a very fast pace. Progressively, it has spread to power transfer as well. The world of wireless power transfer is in our very near future. Today more companies are looking to eliminate traditional power sources and explore wireless technology as a solution to protecting the environment, eliminating waste, and making it convenient to access multiple devices through a touch of a button. Most consumers today are knowledgeable about the wireless revolution and are looking for ways to reduce the use of cords, power strips, and batteries through wireless USB dongles and other wireless infrastructures. What is now on the horizon is wireless power. Consumers are ready for the next step in wireless technology; however, there are many advantages and disadvantages that need to be explored before rolling it out to the public.

Sony Corp, a long held leader in technology solutions, is in the process or developing a wireless power solution for televisions, contactless electrical energy transmission technology. The need for wires and cables will not only make the setting up of a home entertainment system easier but allow users to place televisions sets virtually anywhere within the range of the power supply. It will also be a more efficient way of transfer energy. Although companies like Sony Corp have come up with great solutions for this new technology, wireless power is still in the research and development phase, and is proceeding into the demonstration phase.

Wireless power has promising benefits to society, the economy, the environment, as well as science and technology. The environmental and ethical impact of wireless energy should be fully explored before it is implemented for everyday use. Using wireless power for everyday and commercial use has great potential environmental benefits. Used energy sources such as batteries contribute to a large amount of waste in the world. This new form of power will replace the use of batteries and create less waste in landfills which poison the land and ozone layer. Batteries are wasteful, unsustainable, and are potentially hazardous when corroded.

The heavy metals used in batteries pollute the environment when disposed of improperly. Once batteries enter landfills, they slowly erode and leech toxic lead and acid into soil and have the potential to poison water sources for neighboring communities. Recent strides in recycling have decreased the toxic effects on the environment; however, recycling is not very cost effective. By using wireless power as an alternative to wires and batteries, energy costs will also reduce, saving homeowners untold amounts of income.

In terms of efficiency, wireless power has its benefits. Energy is a valuable resource and must be used with as much restraint as possible. Our current way we distribute energy is extremely costly and ineffective. The price of energy has skyrocketed over the last decade causing consumers to seek other forms of electricity. Consumers are looking to smart technology, a term used for using power only as needed, to lower their monthly energy costs.

This efficient use of energy will not only maximize its use but also decrease the dependency of fossil fuels which harm our ozone layer. Wireless electricity becomes the obvious alternative because it will do away with extreme energy consumption. Reducing the use of energy in general allows wireless power to become an environmentally sound technology that has the potential to be implemented on a wide scale.

Wireless power transfer researchers have found that most wireless technology emit an electromagnetic field (EMF). Studies have indicated that there is a correlation between electromagnetic field emissions from wireless electricity and serious human health problems. The Environmental Protection Agency conducted over 100 studies and recommended that EMF’s be classified as a carcinogen; a substance, radionuclide, or radiation that is an agent directly involved in causing cancer.

If wireless electricity were to become more available, then airports and coffee shops could provide an environment where charging your phone would happen through the air rather that from an outlet. For media outlets, this technology could increase their access to consumers almost ten-fold because companies could advertise on these charging devices and potential customers would never have to worry about not seeing that advertisement come up when they are browsing the internet from their phones.

Another aspect to think of with media is in regards to advertising which could make wireless electricity that much more of a valuable commodity to utilize. On the horizon are companies that will be able to use electronics on all types of packaging from video games to cereal boxes. The idea behind this is that there would be a commercial of sorts on video game packaging which would draw in the consumers’ attention, therefore making them want to buy this new and fancy product. In addition to this, packaging on kids cereal boxes could “come to life” with moving colors and images of their favorite cereal characters which would make it that much more tempting for a child to reach out their hand to grab the box while their parents are walking through the store. There may even come a day when the youth of not only America, but all over the world, will not know what packaging was like before the bright lights that it could become in the future.

Another use for this type of advertising would be useful in all sorts of stores to be able to highlight certain products that may be on special or on sale. The store would not need to pay for electricity to power the televisions that they currently have at the checkout stand. This technology could be located throughout the store, not just in one place. Without the need for cords, this allows for portability and placing advertising in least noticeable areas where one may not expect a product to be talking to them. This could also play a role in how nutrition facts are presented to customers because the company could ensure that the highlighted items on the packaging were those of healthy options. In addition, it could make paper coupons obsolete due to companies being able to integrate their saving directly into their packaging. The coupons they would normally provide in paper mailers could be activated on the outside of packages at any point. It provides manufacturers the ability to control the advertising on their products from a central location with the touch of a button. If those cost changed, or the product needed to go through re-branding, there would be no need for a company to pull product off the shelf and waste it, because this too could be done from