News

Critical Success Factors Identified For Energy Harvesting

October 26, 2008 by Jeff Shepard

The six "Critical Success Factors" for energy harvesting technologies are detailed in the just-released analysis of "Energy Harvesting, Micro Batteries and Power Management ICs" from Darnell Group. This latest study covers the business and technology developments driving this market, including a unique cost-benefit model that identifies a specific path to commercial success within the next five years.

The critical success factors that will enable the commercial viability of energy harvesting are: applications; standards/architectures; power costs; initial installation costs; process technologies and price declines; and materials. Combined with tax credits for certain segments like lighting control, the energy efficiency savings are a convincing, cost-effective value proposition in many applications.

Semiconductor companies are taking the lead with power management ICs, and thin-film batteries are now commercially available to enable energy harvesting implementations. With potential markets spanning billion-unit industries, energy harvesting is expected to weather the current worldwide economic volatility and be a good opportunity for power supply companies.

Topics covered in the report include: Wireless Sensor and Wireless Sensor Mesh Applications; Standards and Regulatory Update; Energy Storage Trends; Low-Power Wireless System Trends; and Energy Harvesting Market Analysis. The report examines the applications that are already adopting energy harvesting solutions, and those likely to adopt them in the near future; along with an analysis of the technologies driving adoption, including thin-film batteries, new architectures and advanced materials and packaging.

More information can be found here .