Underhyped Tech - Harvesting Ambient Energy
This is a deep dive into one of our nine underhyped frontier technologies for development.
The full exploration will be released on April 23rd. Sign up to the launch event here.
Self-powered devices that capture energy from their surroundings
What if sensors, wearables, and smart devices could power themselves—no charging, no battery swaps, no wires? That’s the promise of harvesting ambient energy. By capturing small amounts of power from light, heat, movement, or electromagnetic waves, this technology enables devices to run independently, even in remote or hard-to-reach places. It’s a simple idea with big potential: longer-lasting devices, less maintenance, and less waste. While it’s still early days for some applications, the core ingredients are already here.
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Harvesting ambient energy refers to the process of capturing and converting ambient energy into electrical power, enabling sensors, wearables, and embedded systems to operate autonomously.
This technology is particularly valuable in remote or inaccessible areas where regular maintenance is impractical due to the lack of qualified personnel. By reducing dependency on conventional batteries, energy harvesting extends device lifespan, lowers operational costs, and minimises electronic waste.
Energy sources include outdoor and indoor photovoltaic cells, heat differentials (such as body heat), vibrations and movement (piezoelectric energy), and ambient electromagnetic waves from mobile networks and radiofrequency signals.
Unlike traditional battery-powered devices, energy-harvested IoT systems enhance sustainability by reducing electronic waste while ensuring reliable performance in remote or hazardous environments.
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Smart Cities & Infrastructure: Powers remote environmental and traffic sensors, reducing maintenance costs.
Wearable & Biomedical Devices: Enables energy-autonomous health monitors and smart textiles.
Agricultural Monitoring: Sustains soil, weather, and crop sensors without requiring battery replacement.
Smart Homes & Buildings: Enhances energy efficiency by self-powering occupancy and climate control sensors.
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The rapid expansion of IoT networks is constrained by battery limitations, requiring frequent maintenance, replacement, and disposal of millions of small batteries. Energy harvesting technologies—such as solar, thermal, kinetic, and radiofrequency (RF) energy—offer a path to self-sustaining IoT devices. However, adoption is hindered by efficiency limitations and lack of standardisation in power management solutions.
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Reduced Maintenance Needs: Minimises battery dependency, cutting operational costs and extending device lifespan.
Lower Environmental Impact: Eliminates battery decay, reducing toxic chemical waste and electronic pollution.
Alternative Energy Solutions: While currently suited for low-power applications, advancements may enable larger-scale energy solutions in the future.
Self-Powered Sensors: Ensures continuous operation in remote or inaccessible areas without the need for external power sources.
Miniaturised & Low-Power Innovation: Energy-efficient circuits and ultra-low-power devices make better use of minimal harvested energy.
The Internet of Everything: Paves the way for a truly autonomous IoT ecosystem, where devices power themselves indefinitely.
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Field Maintenance Challenges: Bioelectrochemical systems struggle with the absence of durable non-metallic anodes, as metal electrodes corrode and lose conductivity in organic environments.
Fire Risk: Certain energy harvesting circuits may overheat or explode if overloaded, making efficient power management essential.
Intermittency & Reliability: Ambient energy sources fluctuate, necessitating energy storage or hybrid power solutions to ensure continuous operation.
Efficiency Constraints: Current energy conversion technologies exhibit limited efficiency, reducing overall system performance.
Scalability Issues: Large-scale deployment remains technically complex, limiting widespread adoption.
Standardisation Gaps: The absence of universal protocols for energy harvesting complicates IoT integration and interoperability.
Voltage Limitations: Low-power circuits have strict voltage thresholds; exceeding these can lead to component failure, necessitating careful power regulation and system design.
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Low-Power Electronics: Ultra-low-power microcontrollers and optimised circuitry extend operational viability, reducing overall energy consumption.
Open-Source Power Management Frameworks: Facilitating seamless integration with diverse IoT architectures, enhancing efficiency and interoperability.
Bionanowires & Conductive Nanostructures: Advances in bioelectronic materials may pave the way for fully biodegradable sensors, supporting both energy harvesting and bioremediation applications.
Energy Modulation & Optimisation: Machine learning-driven power management models improve energy efficiency, ensuring optimal performance of self-powered IoT devices.
Non-Metallic Anode Electrodes: The development of corrosion-resistant, long-lasting electrode materials enhances the durability and sustainability of bioelectrochemical energy harvesting systems.
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Environmental Disruptions: Natural events such as animal movement, landslides, or extreme weather can displace energy harvesters, cutting them off from their energy source.
Limited Awareness & Adoption: Battery-powered solutions remain the default for many applications due to familiarity.
Supply Chain Constraints: The reliance on rare materials and complex manufacturing techniques limits large-scale production and accessibility.
Energy Demand Normalisation: The energy required to process data varies depending on the volume and complexity of information. Optimising energy distribution for fluctuating workloads remains an ongoing challenge.
Power Intermittency: Ensuring sensor functionality when energy sources are inconsistent or insufficient remains a key barrier to widespread deployment.
Curious examples: what’s already happening?
Case Study no. 1
Soil-Powered Computing: Terracell’s Microbial Fuel Cells for Renewable IoT Energy - Prototype
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The growing demand for distributed IoT networks in remote areas has been limited by power constraints. Traditional batteries degrade over time, creating electronic waste, while solar panels are unreliable in environments with frequent cloud cover, dense vegetation, or heavy dust accumulation. Furthermore, both technologies contain toxic heavy metals that can leach into sensitive ecosystems.
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Terracell introduces a Soil Microbial Fuel Cell (SMFC) that generates renewable energy from soil microbes. This technology enables low-power IoT devices to function independently without the need for battery replacements or grid connectivity. Unlike previous SMFCs that required waterlogged environments, Terracell operates effectively in soils with only 42% volumetric water content, vastly expanding its deployment potential. The system consists of:
✔️Microbial fuel cells that extract electrons from organic matter in the soil, converting chemical energy into usable electrical power.
✔️ A vertical cathode design that prevents submersion issues and ensures stable oxygen flow for sustained energy production.
✔️ RF backscatter communication for ultra-low-power, real-time data transmission.
✔️ An open-source, locally manufacturable design, reducing costs and making it accessible for global adoption.
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Enables battery-free environmental monitoring in conservation areas, smart agriculture, and infrastructure projects.
Reduces toxic battery waste and electronic pollution in fragile ecosystems.
Extends IoT sensor deployment lifespan, significantly lowering maintenance costs in remote locations.
Supports climate resilience efforts by powering soil health and agricultural monitoring tools.
Provides an affordable, scalable alternative to lithium-based power solutions, reducing dependency on mined materials.
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More information here.
Image: Terracell microbial fuel cell can operate in both dry and flooded conditions. Credit: Terracel.
Case Study no. 2
Alinti: Harnessing Plant Photosynthesis for Renewable Energy - Startup
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Millions of households in vulnerable communities still rely on kerosene lamps and candles for lighting, exposing families to toxic emissions and fire hazards. Simultaneously, urban infrastructure remains dependent on non-renewable energy sources, contributing to CO₂ emissions and environmental degradation. Traditional renewable energy solutions, such as solar panels, are limited by shading, dust accumulation, and maintenance challenges, necessitating alternative approaches to decentralised power generation.
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Alinti has developed a revolutionary bioelectrochemical system that generates electricity from plant photosynthesis. By leveraging Soil Microbial Fuel Cells (SMFCs) and an innovative conductive polymer anode, Alinti captures electrons released during plant-root interactions with soil microorganisms, producing sustainable, off-grid energy. Key innovations include:
✔️ Non-metallic, corrosion-resistant conductive polymer that overcomes traditional bioelectrochemical degradation issues.
✔️ Integration of living plants into the power generation process, ensuring continuous energy production.
✔️ A self-sustaining, renewable system that purifies the air, captures CO₂ and releases oxygen while generating power.
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Provides sustainable, off-grid lighting for communities without reliable electricity access.
Reduces reliance on kerosene, lowering CO₂ emissions and preventing respiratory health risks.
Powers lights with bioelectrochemical energy, eliminating the need for toxic batteries.
Enhances air quality by capturing CO₂ and releasing oxygen through plant-powered systems.
Supports biodiversity and green urban spaces by integrating living plants into energy infrastructure.
Promotes environmental awareness and sustainable energy education within communities.
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Other interesting cases
Energy-harvesting building envelope (UK) - Prototype Harvesting thermal energy from solar radiation and converting it into electricity.
3D printed cube for ambient RF energy harvesting (Saudi Arabia) - Prototype A device that can gather power from a nearby smartphone.
Harvesting mechanical and magnetic energy (China) - Prototype
The new device collects ambient wasted energy from mechanical vibrations and magnetic fields to generate sustainable electricity.
Self-powered sensor automatically harvests magnetic energy (USA) - Prototype
It allows sensors to operate in remote settings, without batteries.
Kinergizer energy harvesters (Netherlands) - Product/Service
They convert motion into electricity that powers wireless sensors.
E-peas (Belgium) - Product/Service
The company designs and manufactures energy harvesting devices for IoT applications.
Nexperia (Netherlands) - Product/Service
Using photovoltaics to harvest the energy from the sun or from light bulbs.
Viezo (Lithuania) - Product/Service
It provides vibration energy harvesters for industrial IoT.
Future scenarios: what might happen in 2035?
As part of our exploration of these nine underhyped technologies, our partners at Pluriversa conducted a foresight exercise to consider possible futures and anticipate the challenges and opportunities within each technology. The exercise produced four scenarios for the year 2035, which you can read here, along with speculative use cases - with different potential outcomes - for each technology. Read on to explore potential future scenarios involving harvesting ambient energy.
2035: Space Debris Monitoring
While energy harvesting has many potential uses, it is the continuous monitoring of artificial space objects the one that gathers the most attention.
By producing electricity from ambient energy, this special type of IoT device, which is suited for space conditions, can help keep track of a large inventory of space objects, mostly debris. Given the large amount of trash and its potential risk to Earth and operational satellites, space observatories can now know the details of every piece of debris being tracked. With the help of supercomputers, they can calculate their current path, being able to detect with great precision potential collisions with other objects.
Space drones can also track down specific items using IoT devices and bring them back to Earth so that their now-scarce rare metals can be reused for future space explorations. The space drones themselves also use these energy-harvesting technologies as a source of power.
2035: Enhanced Worker Productivity
Energy harvesting devices can be used to power wearables that track what workers do or do not do in a very efficient and cost-effective way. Because of this, the devices are sometimes referred to as wearable productivity harvesters.
This is a game changer for industries that still see human labour as a cheaper alternative to robots, often resulting in precarious working conditions. By using the devices, companies can make sure employees are constantly being productive. Additionally, there is no need to constantly replace batteries, reducing costs even further.
Since the movements of workers in a warehouse can continuously feed energy to the device, they have become an endless source of not only energy but also data that is later used to optimize processes even further.
Final thoughts
If you’re working in health, agriculture, infrastructure, or environmental monitoring, there may be smart ways to integrate self-powered devices into your work. The opportunity lies in using ambient energy harvesting to extend the life and reach of your tools—especially in places where regular maintenance isn’t possible.
Some ideas to explore next:
Could kinetic or solar energy power sensors in remote fields or along transport routes?
Might biodegradable, self-powered devices reduce waste in short-term deployments?
Could energy-harvesting wearables support continuous health monitoring with minimal interventions?
Are there emerging tools or platforms making integration easier and more affordable?
Ambient energy harvesting won’t replace all power sources—but in the right context, it can quietly shift what’s possible.
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A Multibeam Solar Grid Antenna Integrated With Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cell
A Multi-Band Efficient Metamaterial Absorber for Millimeter-Wave Band WBAN Applications
Development of Micro-Structural Waste Heat Utilized Power Generator With Silicon and Refrigerant
Distributed Massive MIMO for Wireless Power Transfer in the Industrial Internet of Things
Low-Power BLE Relay Node Operation in Mesh-Like Architectures for Precision Agriculture
Parasitic Beam-Switching Antenna Array for mmWave Energy Harvesting in IoMT Application
Hybrid energy harvesting from mechanical vibrations and magnetic field
Rule the Joule: An Energy Management Design Guide for Self-Powered Sensors
Solvent-induced electrochemistry at an electrically asymmetric carbon Janus particle
This is a deep dive into one of our nine underhyped frontier technologies for development.
The full exploration will be released on April 23rd. Sign up to the launch event here.