Energy Harvesting: Cultivating Fuel for Electronics

Energy harvesting, also known as power scavenging, is used to describe the collection of energy derived from a variety of external sources such as solar power, thermal energy, wind energy, kinetic energy or electromagnetic sources.  Energy harvesters accumulate the wasted energy in a system, such as heat given off by motors or semiconductors, or the vibrations of motors or other moving objects, for use in another system.  

An ecosystem of semiconductor vendors has emerged for the nascent energy harvesting market.The ecosystems are gravitating around the vendors of key power components. They are forming partnerships with producers of energy harvesters, battery suppliers, and other components.  EH development kits and reference designs are available.

This study examines the market opportunity for energy harvesting outside of large solar installations and commercial power generation.  A broad range of markets will employ energy harvesting to either replace batteries or extend battery life. These applications cover wireless sensor nodes (WSN) for bridges, infrastructure, building automation and controls, and home automation (including lighting, security and environmental). Energy harvesting will grow in automotive applications, cell phones, wearables, toys and other consumer electronics.  The report is 91 pages long and includes 11 tables and 44 figures.