Scientists have created of a new technology that will recharge electronic devices without being plugged. The development has the potential to do away with mountains of disposable batteries and miles of wiring.

The technology, which facilitates the transfer of energy through magnetic fields, will allow laptops, mobile phones and televisions to be left unplugged in the home while being recharged.

The new system exploits a recent breakthrough in physics, according to the US company WiTricity. It has shown that it can send electricity "wirelessly" through the air and can switch on a light bulb or keep a computer running.

"Lets face it: wires suck," Eric Giler, chief executive of WiTricity, was quoted as saying by 'The Times' newspaper at the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford this week. "Batteries also suck."

"There is something like 40 billion disposable batteries built every year for power that, generally speaking, is used within a few inches or feet of where there is very inexpensive power," Giler said.

According to the report in the British daily, the science behind the system was developed by the physicist Marin Soljacic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.