Why don't we use Tesla's wireless energy transmission?

Same reason it wasn’t adopted 100 years ago- there’s no good way to monetize it. That is to say, there’s no good way to meter usage and charge money.

(Not that that is a good or moral reason, but it is a reason, and probably the reason)

Also, I’m guessing that doing so would be pretty carcinogenic.

Because it was shit

@eambos It’s been done. On a small scale it’s fairly simple.
See: Wireless Power Transmission Over Short Distances

Also, I agree with @aphilotus

@aphilotus is right. There wouldn’t be a way to charge for it. It’s kind of the same reason why GM’s first electric car wasn’t released, corporations wouldn’t be receiving their royalties.

I think it would work. I’ve been a big fan of Tesla ever since I head about him. It’s also sad that they don’t teach about Tesla in schools.

Why would we when we have a system that works, is durable, safe and inexpensive when compared to any single wire system? A working Tesla system would just be different – not “effectively” better – and it would cost an enormous amount of money to develop and maintain.

Actually I often wondered what the world would look like if Tesla was recognized as a real scientist instead of what Edison would like the world to think about him. On the other hand maybe we would all be sterile by now ;)

It is my understanding that Edison led a slur campaign against Tesla. Edison invented and promoted the electric chair as a way to demonstrate to the world how dangerous AC current is. Here is an article that briefly discusses their feud. Tesla lost his funding and Edison won the “power wars.”

Forget the conspiracy theories. The Tesla method radiates power in all directions with huge losses. You can mitigate some of the loss by using yagi type antennas to aim it at another similarly tuned antenna but that adds cost and everyone need the same antenna . unfortuantely you cant aim at everyone.
A wire sends the power where you want with very low loss.

Also the radio frequency interference the vicinity of a tesla system is tremendous. In fact, the signals were used in early amateur radio to communicate DX (over seas) using Morse code since the radio noise was so great you could hear it across the Atlantic.

Finally it takes much more power to spew out the radiation in all directions than to use a generator and send it by wire to specific location. Think of it as standing on a hill top, screaming your lungs out to the world so everyone can hear you. Now think of using a kid’s wire telephone. You don’t have to yell any more and they can hear you much better.
Also have you ever seen a tesla coil? I have. And love them ZZZZAAAPPP.

@supermouse You have it backwords. Edison lost the war of currents. We use AC power today because Tesla and Westinghouse won the bid to light the Worlds Fair in Chicago because AC power cost about half as much to do the job. Shortly after that Westinghouse build a power station at Niagra Falls and the battle was decided.

Tesla lost money because he ripped up his contract for a royalty relating to AC power so that the Westinghouse company could survive (it was over-leveraged at the time).

This all happened before Tesla got interested in wireless power.

@Lupin Thanks for the answer. That clears up my question nicely. Do you know of anywhere I could get some professional articles on the matter? I’m doing some work at school on the matter.

Yeah, I wish I had a tesla coil, I would love to play with one of those.

@tramnineteen You could always make one!

@tramnineteen Yes. There is the Tesla memorial society of NY

These folks have more info on tesla, tesla coils, power transmission that you can ever want to know. Browse around for a while. You will find what you need.
There’s a guy in NY that has one of the largest Tesla units in the world. He’s certifiably nuts but it sure is cool. Before cable, his neighbors used to have all kinds of TV reception problems. (With a little looking around you can figure out where he lives.- I will never tell.)

@tramnineteen

If you can’t or don’t want to make a Tesla coil, you can purchase them either on the net or wander into your nearest “Pleasure Chest” store.

They are called Violet Wands.

If you don’t have a local store by that name or anything similar, just Goog Violet Wand and there are numerous places on the net from which you can order them. They really are not that uncommon. Have Fun :)

Because there is no such thing.

Wireless power transmission works on short distances with considerable losses and will be introduced and used in the coming years for the sole reason that people are too LAZY to connect a wire to their cellphones when recharging.

Powers above a few watts will never be transmitted wireless because 90% of the energy is wasted over distances over 1m/3’.

Do you think electricity companies would build expensive power lines if there was another way?

Making huge sparks and claiming you can transmit power wirelessly without any meaningful demonstration doesn’t prove anything. These kind of technologies kan be proved in VERY simple ways, for instance with two watt-meters that measure power going in and power coming out of the transmission system. Yet you never see those video’s on youtube.

Glad you like my “tesla mistake” article.

> Same reason it wasn’t adopted 100 years ago- there’s no good way to monetize it.

Not true, but this assumption ended up in a famous Tesla movie, and from there it spread all over the place.

The actual letters between Tesla and JP Morgan apparently reveal that Tesla promised Morgan radio communication for yacht races. Then Morgan found out that Tesla wasn’t even working on it, and it turned out he’d sunk all the cash into his own building-complex and giant tower, and completely ignored what he’d agreed to. Morgan got pissed off.

Then Marconi announced his transmissions across the Atlantic. Then Tesla lost his own funds in a stock crash, and asked Morgan for more money. Morgan ended up going with Marconi. (So, back then Tesla appeared to be both dishonest as well as a capital-L Loser.) And finally Tesla, rather than going to other investors, kept after Morgan for years. (Tesla’s other big funder JJ Astor died with the Titanic.)

Another answer: nobody knows how Tesla was going to broadcast energy. His tower wasn’t nearly tall enough for extremely low-freq radio. In theory, he could only emit signals, but not megawatts. Something more is needed. But there are some clues that Tesla was using something more: vertical ion beams, an antenna made of plasma.

Note that there’s lots of ignorant foolishness when it comes to criticizing Tesla. The top one is: “wireless power just goes in all directions and is lost.” Nope. Critics used this same false argument during Tesla’s time, and Tesla himself debunked it, pointing out that, unlike with shorter “Hertzian” radio waves, he’d discovered that the broadcast groundwaves travel around and around the Earth. Back then nobody believed him, but then in the 1950s the Earth Resonance was rediscovered (named “Schumann resonance.”) Just as Tesla said, the emitted waves AREN’T instantly lost to outer space, instead they circle the globe many times, trapped between the conductive ionosphere and the ground.

So, we just need a MILES-TALL TOWER, then we can broadcast as much ELF energy as we want. Or use a UV chemical laser, to create a vertical, violet-glowing “virtual antenna” like the one shown here at magazineart.com: http://goo.gl/hfjWV

They certainly could have found a way to monetize it as with radio, satellite tv, and cell phone wireless…. That would be the easy part. But with crazy efficient superconductors wrapped in interference free coatings who needs air for electricity? Tesla’s idea will become reality when it is more efficient and cost effective. Although had we converted to that system earlier it would have had already evolved to that point years ago. No conspiracy just Entropy!!!!