Losing reading glasses and struggling with bifocals could be a thing of the past soon, thanks to an electronic eyeglasses invention by PixelOptics.

The new electronic eyeglasses, called emPower, allow the wearer to switch the magnification power of the eyeglasses by simply pressing a button on the frame. This could lead to a change in how we view other types of glass, too.

Since the invention of eyeglasses more than 800 years ago, major improvements to the basic design have been minimal. In fact, most breakthroughs aimed at improving vision have involved eliminating the eyeglasses altogether. Contact lenses and Lasix surgery allow those with vision problems to put their eyeglasses away, used for emergencies only.

Those who need bifocals or reading glasses, though, haven’t had those options.

The emPower glasses can replace multiple eyeglasses by changing the power of the lenses on the fly. Those who need reading glasses in addition to everyday glasses could just have one pair of glasses that they wear all of the time, and the lenses in the eyeglasses could adjust themselves to provide the magnification you need at the time.

PixelOptics, a Virginia company, just began selling the emPower eyeglasses in a few locations, after nearly 12 years of development.

Each lens in the eyeglasses has a liquid crystal array in the lower half of the lens. Liquid crystal technology is similar to what you find in your laptop computer and smartphone screens. By changing the amount of electrical current that is applied to the liquid crystal array, the crystals are realigned, providing the necessary magnification in the emPower glasses or creating text and images on the screen of your smartphone.

When the electrical charge is removed from the emPower eyeglasses, the liquid crystals remain transparent, and they provide no magnification.

Changes to the liquid crystals occur in a fraction of a second – fast enough that the wearer doesn’t notice the process taking place. The wearer can choose to change the magnification manually, or the emPower glasses can adjust automatically, trying to match the magnification that’s applied based on whatever the wearer is doing. When the wearer looks downward in automatic mode, for example, the liquid crystals change the power of the eyeglasses to mimic reading glasses.

In addition to the liquid crystals that change the magnification, the emPower eyeglasses make use of a tiny processor and rechargeable battery that fit within the frame of the eyeglasses. The electrical wiring that connects to the liquid crystals is essentially invisible. Wearers can recharge the eyeglasses at night by placing them on a conductive battery charger as they sleep.

PixelOptics plans to offer the emPower eyeglasses in several shapes and styles, although no tinted emPower lenses will be available initially. Also, the first version of the emPower eyeglasses will only allow one magnification power that will either be “on” or “off.” Eventually, though, tinted lenses and multiple powers per lens could be developed.

The emPower eyeglasses will cost about $1,250 to start, although that price figures to drop as the technology becomes more refined. And don’t expect the technology to be limited to electronic eyeglasses.

Several designers have envisioned futuristic homes where the exterior windows could use a combination of LCD and LED technologies to provide aesthetic benefits as well as energy efficiency to homes.

Windows featuring the technology could become opaque at times when you need some privacy, or when you want to keep the heat from the sun out of the home during the summer. When you want to let light in during the day, they become transparent, just like the emPower eyeglasses. In the evening, the windows using this technology could include LEDs to provide light to the home in an energy-efficient manner, or they could use the liquid crystals to display family photos or other artwork to improve your home’s look and feel.

The emPower system appears to show that such technologies can be created in glass already, at least on a small scale. There’s no doubt that this technology is one worth watching … as long as you can find your reading glasses, that is.