[Physics] Harvesting electricity in the air from power lines:

electromagnetic-radiationelectromagnetismpower

Recently I came across this quote on the internet, about a person who apparently set up devices to extract electricity from the "air", on his own property:

I read an article a couple of years ago about this very thing, Someone
had lined the edge of their property with devices to capture bleed-off
from the transmission lines and was using it to power the house. They
were able to cut power bill to less than 10% of normal and the power
company sued them and won. It is illegal to "harvest" unused power
from transmission lines. I don't know if the same would apply to
radar/radio/etc… I would do some checking before I spent a lot of
money on equipment.

I'm not interested in the legal side of things, but I'm wondering if one set up a device to extract energy in this way, will this method simply be scavenging energy that would otherwise be wasted, or is he somehow stealing the energy that would otherwise be used in the transmission lines?

Please explain the physics behind your response.

Best Answer

I would add, however, that any modification of the environment near the transmission lines changes the net impedance (the effective AC resistance) of the circuit carrying the power. So, even while for the most part you are just collecting leaked energy, you are also lowering the amount of transmitted energy. If you build an electric circuit containing a coil and this will deliver the a certain amount of energy to all components. You can then bring a second coil near the first, without touching it, and the currents, potential drops and power in the elements will change.

Related Question