Tristan Cool, Product Marketing Manager, Industrial IoT, Silicon Labs discusses how to power 40 billion IoT devices sustainably
By 2030, the number of connected devices worldwide is projected to reach over 40 billion, according to IoT Analytics. From health wearables and smart thermostats to industrial, agricultural, and smart city sensors, these connected devices constantly communicate and generate vast amounts of data. That’s a lot of energy … and the stakes of global energy consumption are already high.
Global energy use is predicted to increase by 34% between 2022 and 2050, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) International Energy Outlook 2023, driven by population growth, increased manufacturing, and rising living standards. So, how can we continue to power billions of connected devices sustainably without further straining our planet’s resources?
The need for alternative power solutions
The growing demand for constant connectivity, combined with rising global energy use, requires a shift toward sustainable power. Traditional methods like grid power and batteries have inherent limitations in scalability and maintenance. Batteries, regardless of type, have a limited lifespan, which generates waste and poses logistical challenges—for example, if a battery needing replacement is in a difficult-to-access location like a bridge, wind turbine, or industrial plant.
Innovative energy solutions are emerging to address these obstacles. Sustainable alternatives, such as supercapacitors, which are high-capacity energy storage devices bridging the gap between conventional capacitors and rechargeable batteries, offer significantly higher energy storage capacity compared to conventional capacitors. Likewise, thin-film batteries, rechargeable batteries constructed from thin layers of material, offer improved efficiency and extended device lifespans due to their compact form factors and minimised leakage currents.
Harnessing ambient energy through energy harvesting
Energy harvesting systems leverage components like supercapacitors and thin-film batteries to capture and convert ambient energy—including sun light, vibrations, kinetic motion, and even radio waves—into usable electrical power. This harvested energy can then be stored for later use, enabling the creation of smaller, more cost-effective, and virtually maintenance-free devices. Energy harvesting is positioned to become a cornerstone of the connected future by providing a viable path to self-powered devices and minimising reliance on traditional energy sources.
Once limited to powering small sensors, energy harvesting is evolving. It can now power complex applications where traditional battery design may not be compatible, such as Bluetooth-enabled devices across building automation, security, agriculture, infrastructure, healthcare, and more. Energy harvesting-based systems can scale even further with the help of advancements in System-on-Chip (SoC) technology, which are essentially the brains of IoT devices.
Solution providers like Silicon Labs are designing ultra-low-power consumption SoCs equipped to enhance energy conservation and extend device lifespans through careful hardware and software optimisation. Silicon Labs’ BG22E SoCs enable IoT device makers to build energy-friendly, high-performance, and secure Bluetooth Low Energy and 15.4 wireless connectivity for battery-optimised and battery-less devices, from simple remote controls and smart door locks to sophisticated asset tracking systems.
Joint efforts across the industry are proving highly effective in advancing energy harvesting solutions. For example, Silicon Labs partnered with e-peas, a provider of Power Managed Integrated Circuits (PMICs) for energy harvesting, to create energy harvesting shields for the xG22E Explorer Kit. These shields enable developers to measure and streamline the development of energy harvesting applications more accurately, optimising them for various energy sources and storage technologies, including simultaneous harvesting from multiple ambient sources such as light, thermal gradients, and radio waves.
These major advancements allow for years of reliable operation on small power sources like coin cell batteries or harvested ambient energy.
System-wide strategies for energy efficiency
To achieve sustainable IoT deployments, we must also implement system-wide strategies such as data compression and optimisation and Edge processing, which minimise transmitted data volume, bandwidth requirements, and data centre energy use.
For instance, compressing soil moisture data from a smart agriculture deployment on the physical device through Edge processing before Cloud transmission would significantly reduce energy use across the network. Furthermore, utilising renewable energy-powered Cloud platforms and data centres ensures environmentally responsible digital infrastructure. Many major Cloud providers now commit to 100% renewable energy, which directly minimises the carbon footprint of IoT applications.
Additionally, predictive maintenance through real-time device monitoring minimises downtime and prevents unnecessary resource use. Analysing sensor data enables proactive prediction and mitigation of potential equipment failures, preventing costly emergency repairs and wasted resources.
Tristan Cool is an Industrial IoT Product Marketing Manager at Silicon Labs. He leads the company’s exploration of alternative AI/ML applications for the IoT and leads the Industrial Asset Monitoring Segment, covering applications such as asset tracking, machine condition monitoring, and fleet telematics.
Author: Tristan Cool, Product Marketing Manager, Industrial IoT, Silicon Labs
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