Publication date: 15 February 2011
Consider the philosophical riddle: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" I find myself pondering this question because at Power Integrations we have just launched a product that nobody asked for. Will engineers hear about it?
Some background: About 10 years ago, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory decided to study how much energy was being wasted by electronic equipment sitting in standby mode, doing no useful work. They were shocked to discover that about 10% of all power generated was burned in this way. The conclusions of that study spawned international meetings with governments and captains of industry, and a regulatory process followed that imposes limits on standby power usage. This resulted in several generations of power supply products featuring decreasing standby power drain as the regulations tightened and technology improved. Power Integrations was a leader in developing the required energy-efficient ICs, and to-date we have sold about 3 billion chips containing our innovative EcoSmart(TM) technology.
Last month, we released LinkZero(TM)-AX, a power supply IC based on our low-cost AC-DC converter products that has the ability to switch off, thereby consuming zero power in standby mode. There is no international standard or regulation that requires zero standby power usage for any products, and developers have not asked for such a part. We made one anyway.
I’ve pondered our motives and the best explanation that I can think of is that we have faith in engineers. We have faith that engineers care about the environment, faith that they are free to make choices in the products that they design, and faith that someone out there will recognize the value of a product that takes no power in standby mode, and make use of it. The best part of this development is that the circuit is no more complex or expensive to implement than the old-fashioned, power-hungry version – all that was needed was creativity to conceive it and faith to make it happen.
Of course, the same effect can be achieved simply by pulling out the plug or throwing a mains switch, but that’s so 1980’s, and consumers can’t be relied upon to behave in this way just to save a little energy. It’s far better to use our engineer’s brains than to rely on the consumer’s fallible memory and lazy index finger, and invent a better way. LinkZero-AX ICs enable us to keep our easy-to-reach “soft” on-switches and couch-potato IR remote controls, but waste no electrical energy while doing so.
To share ideas on the value of a product that no one asked for, visit the PI Forum and join the discussion on standby power usage. Let us know whether you think our new product made a sound.
Doug Bailey is vice president of marketing for Power Integrations, the leading supplier of high-voltage analog ICs used in energy-efficient power conversion. Before joining PI, Bailey was vice president of marketing at ChipX; he previously held senior-level management positions with Sapiential Prime, Inc., 8x8, Inc., and IIT, Inc., and design engineering roles with LSI Logic, Inmos, Ltd. and Marconi. Doug holds a B.Eng. from the University of Birmingham with a concentration in microelectronics and microwave devices.
Power Integrations, LinkZero, EcoSmart, and the Power Integrations logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Power Integrations, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
