Is Energy Harvesting Moving Into the Smart Home?
Energy harvesting — technology that can capture and store energy from external sources like the sun and movement — first took hold in wireless sensor networks in industrial settings. Picture a massive factory that uses a wireless sensor network to monitor vital machinery to make sure it remains in top mechanical shape, but instead of using costly batteries that have a limited lifetime to power the sensors, the vibrations emitted from the machinery also power them. While this technology is still gaining a foothold in commercial and industrial settings, it’s starting to look as if energy-harvesting wireless sensors could be entering the home, too. One promising sign is the fact that the ZigBee Alliance, a trade group made up of stakeholders in the wireless networking industry, is developing a standard for devices that use energy harvesting to capture and store power. It should be published by the end of the year. The standard will define several ways that energy harvesting will work with
