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University of Alberta researchers have taken the first steps toward a wireless world in which houses, cars and personal devices are powered simply through contact with the ground.

The team has shown how low-voltage electricity can be safely transmitted through the earth rather than using the normal two wires to carry a current, says Thomas Thundat, the Faculty of Engineering’s Canada Excellence Research Chair in oilsands molecular engineering.

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They connected a generator to a metal rod, electrifying the dirt so that LED bulbs with a special circuit lit up when they were attached to special receivers stuck in the ground about 20 metres away, Thundat said Tuesday.

People aren’t harmed by the process because the real amount of electricity it puts out is negligible, he said.

While more work remains to be done, he said the possibilities are huge.

“You can make your whole work desk a source of power. Your cellphone or your laptop or other device, you can leave on the surface and it will get charged,” he said.