 Low Power Design

Sustainable IoT

Well-being

The <a href="https://www.horizon-enlightened.com/">ENLIGHTENED project</a> is an R&amp;D collaboration between twelve companies and research organisations, funded by the EU Horizon Europe program. The focus is on increasing the potential of photovoltaic (PV) technology for low-power, low-light applications - combining energy harvesting and flexible, printed electronics to meet the power and energy requirements of small electronics across diverse application segments, while pushing the boundaries of sustainability in electronics design and production. <a href="https://www.onio.com/products/onio-zero.html">ONiO</a> is proud to be part of this partnership, contributing with our unique ultra-low-power technology platform for managing energy harvesting and full control of wireless electronic systems.In the following, we will briefly discuss two of the key areas within ENLIGHTENED - energy harvesting and flexible electronic circuits - and how their combination can stimulate the emergence of a brand new class of better, more sustainable electronics.<h2>Energy harvesting</h2>We live immersed in ambient energy. Such energy exists in multiple forms and is essentially free: yes, it’s here for grabs! So, why are all our small electronic gadgets built around batteries instead of tapping into all this free energy?&nbsp;Truth be told, from a glance, batteries are relatively cheap and in many ways convenient. But if we stop a little to think about a product’s whole lifecycle, we stumble upon low battery (inevitably at the least convenient occasions!), multiple battery changes, drawers full of used batteries leaking nasty metals that most certainly end up in landfills… And, all of a sudden, costs start piling up and convenience slips away.But is there any better way? Back to that whole free ambient energy! With a little ingenuity, it is possible to craft devices to harvest energy from sunlight or artificial lighting, radio frequency waves, motion or thermal gradients, and use such energy to power electronics. The good news is that talented scientists and engineers have already crafted many such neat energy harvesting devices. The amounts of energy obtained aren’t huge, but, if used wisely, are more than enough to keep small electronic gadgets, like the ones typically powered by coin cells or alkaline batteries, up and running. This is where a combination of optimised energy harvesting devices and ultra-efficient power electronics becomes handy!Here, we are not going to enter into details about other forms of energy harvesting, but rather focus on the one starring in ENLIGHTED: light, and in particular low-intensity light, like typically found in indoor environments.There are diverse PV technologies that can be used to harvest light and, in particular, a number of emerging technologies focused on efficiently harvesting indoor light, such as dye sensitised solar cells (DSSC), perovskite-based or organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. In a <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/power-of-light-ambient-energy-for-iot.html">previous article</a>, we provided an overview of key concepts, technologies and market players. The ENLIGHTENED project focuses on OPV technology provided by the project leader, <a href="https://www.epishine.com/">Epishine</a>. Epishine’s OPV modules are already best-in-class, providing high-efficiency, flexibility, seamless integration and low cost. Notably, OPV technology shows the lowest environmental impacts among competing alternatives. A large part of the project is dedicated to improving OPV technology (materials, design, integration and production) with a view towards mass-scale real-world applications within IoT and small electronics.<h2>Flexible printed electronics</h2>Electronic boards, so-called printed circuit boards or simply PCBs, are the backbone of any mainstream electronic device. Despite obvious improvements that span across the whole electronics industry, the foundational aspects of PCBs have remained stable over several decades. This means that the backbone of present day electronics is still very much rigid PCBs, based on subtractive production techniques using etched copper and stiff fiber glass composite substrate, commonly known as FR4. These can be produced in a cheap way in high-throughput automated industrial lines. However, traditional PCBs are bound to some serious limitations.First, the rigidity of FR4 means limited design flexibility: form factor and design of devices must be done around a stiff PCB board, and make room for one or more batteries (plus a battery hatch for changes). This is obviously very limiting when you think of wearables, smart clothing, biomedical sensors and the like. But also across other product categories like sensors, trackers or smart labels to be deployed, for instance, in industrial IoT or the automotive sector - where new form factors, size, thinness and flexibility can be game changers.Second, PCB production typically accounts for as much as 35% of the total environmental footprint of an IoT device, due to energy-intensive subtractive processes that use many chemicals and generate waste. Hence, if we want to make electronics more sustainable, then this must be one of the pressure points.The approach in the ENLIGHTENED project is to move into flexible or hybrid (rigid-flex) electronics, where circuits are printed on flexible polymeric substrates, such as PET, using conductive inks based on copper or silver. Hence, we move away from subtractive production processes, which are inherently wasteful, into more sustainable additive/printed techniques, while enabling thinner, lighter and flexible electronic system backbones. This will free developers for new form factors and new product typologies. The ENLIGHTENED consortium includes two companies specialised in printed electronics, <a href="https://www.tracxon.tech/">Tracxon</a> and <a href="https://flexoo.com/">Flexoo</a>, which are driving the development of new flex-board designs and respective manufacturing processes based on ink printing and SMD (surface mount device) component assembly.<h2>A flexible power module made for sustainable IoT products</h2>Part of the ENLIGHTENED consortium has been focused on developing a flex-board module for powering IoT devices. Energy is harvested by Epishine’s OPV cells and stored in small SMD or pouch supercapacitors or rechargeable batteries. <a href="http://ONiO.zero">ONiO.zero</a> provides system control and advanced energy management. The consortium has been testing different electronic designs, substrates and conductive inks to optimise the module. This module is intended as a power unit adaptable to diverse IoT or small electronic devices. The module can be connected to application-specific flex-boards or conventional PCBs for end product deployment. The size of the PV cell and of the energy storage element can be tuned to serve the requirements of different use cases.In conclusion, batteries and conventional PCBs have been solid contributors to the boom of wireless electronics and IoT devices. Yet, this legacy is proving restrictive as the industry explores new avenues in terms of design and product typologies, while facing increased pressure for sustainable alternatives. The ENLIGHTENED project intends to unchain developers from the legacy of batteries and rigid PCBs. The course is set: self-powered, flexible and sustainable electronics made possible!

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Lighting up electronics redesign

OK then - how about common sense? That sounds like something we all get yeah? But let’s go ahead and define it anyway We know how to make chips that calculate, communicate, and consume less power than a thought - but we often forget to ask the most human question of all:Why are we doing this in the first place?For decades, semiconductor design has been about more - more transistors, more performance, more speed, more nodes, more integration. Moore’s Law was treated almost like a religion - and for good reason. It worked.Until it didn’t.<h3>The cost of cleverness</h3>Somewhere along the way, the industry got so good at chasing performance that it stopped asking whether that performance was even necessary.We started putting full-blown computer systems into toothbrushes.We shipped “smart” devices that still need coin cells replaced every few months.<blockquote>“Cleverness is in building the machine. Common sense is in asking whether the machine needs to exist at all.”</blockquote>We celebrated efficiency on paper&nbsp; and ignored the dumpsters full of “wireless” gadgets dying from battery fatigue.This isn’t a rant against progress. It’s just an observation:&nbsp;Brilliance without coherence creates noise.Cleverness without common sense is destructive.And the world is now full of noisy devices that call themselves smart but are actually contributing to the planetary equivalent of chopping the very tree branch one is seated on - an archetypal situation whereShort term Success = Big picture failureThat single distinction - between cleverness and common sense&nbsp; is the missing piece in most modern tech. It’s what separates intelligence from understanding, speed from sanity, movement from direction.<h3>What coherence means for us</h3>Coherence, for us, is the alignment between what’s technologically possible and what’s sensible for the planet, the user, and the engineer.It’s not about stripping away ambition - it’s about applying sense to ambition.&nbsp;It means asking:<div class="raw-html-embed"><ul class="ul--navi">
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 Does this product really need a battery?
 
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 Can we design something once and let it quietly work for ten years?
 
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 Can we stop designing for constant maintenance?
 
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Can the smallest object in the room behave like it knows what it’s doing?
 
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 </div>Common sense, when applied to semiconductors, is surprisingly radical.<h3>What it looks like in silicon</h3>That philosophy became ONiO.zero - our attempt to bring coherence to the bottom-most layer of technology.We didn’t set out to build a chip that just used less power.We wanted one that used power differently — that could harvest what’s already present and keep working indefinitely.That meant a chip that could:<div class="raw-html-embed"><ul class="ul--navi">
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 Cold starts from less than &lt;1 µW of energy - which makes the rest of the industry look… inefficient.
 
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 Sleep at &lt;1 µW - which is almost nothing.
 
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 Run full BLE 5.4 + 802.15.4 stacks on ambient power.
 
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 Eliminate the supporting cast of PMICs and regulators.
 
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 Make batteryless design not a stunt, but a sane default.
 
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 </div>The result isn’t a gimmick. It’s a quiet correction - an act of restoring proportion, balance and common sense.&nbsp;<h3>Here’s why we talk about “common sense” so much</h3>Because it’s the one thing that seems to have gone missing.Not just in semiconductors but in tech overall and even the world at large.&nbsp;Somewhere between VC decks and keynote slides, sense became optional.But the real elegance in engineering isn’t about more features or faster clocks - it’s about clarity of purpose.When a product is well-designed, it feels inevitable.When a circuit is well-designed, it behaves like it understands itself.That’s coherence.And coherence, in our view, is the highest form of intelligence.<h3>The new north star</h3>The next wave of electronics will not be about performance. It will be about integration, longevity, and autonomy.The world doesn’t need smarter gadgets - it needs smarter relationships between them.We don’t need chips that can do everything - we need chips that know when to stop.This is why ONiO exists.To put sense back into silicon. to remind our industry that sustainability isn’t a feature - it’s the baseline. And to prove that common sense, properly engineered, can be revolutionary.ONiO — making semiconductors make sense again.

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Bringing Common Sense to Semiconductors

Think about it - This would have sounded downright ludicrous even 20 years ago. But over the past decade or so, we’ve been making rapid advances in this field - today, there is not a single area of human activity that hasn’t in some way been touched by the advent of the Internet of Things.&nbsp;This exponential growth is a result of some pretty pathbreaking innovation, no doubt - Incredible technological advances stacked on top of one another. Wireless sensors, bluetooth technology, Wi-fi, ML, AI - you get it - it’s a result of a whole bunch of advanced capabilities coming together - but what’s ironic is that in spite of all these tremendous advancements in ultra-low-power electronics, the majority of these devices still rely on batteries for their power.&nbsp;What’s wrong with them being battery powered?Where do we even begin?&nbsp;First off, let’s start with the sheer irony of the fact that the entire enterprise of IoT is predicated on the idea of untethered connectivity - i.e. unrestricted access and connectivity. Batteries, by definition, bring constraints into the mix - they have a limited capacity which means that they need periodic replacements or recharging.&nbsp;The IoT dream was realised on the promise of sensors and devices that can be deployed in the most far-flung, remote areas of the world, gathering and transmitting data seamlessly without being tethered to a power socket - but to be tethered to a battery isn’t that much of an improvement. After all, even the best batteries eventually run out.&nbsp;Not to mention the laundry list of annoying pain points that batteries come with - they are an environmental hazard and contribute massively to our <a href="https://unitar.org/about/news-stories/press/global-e-waste-monitor-2024-electronic-waste-rising-five-times-faster-documented-e-waste-recycling">massive</a> e-waste problem - use and throw batteries end up in landfills and oceans, spilling toxic chemicals into our water and food for years and years.&nbsp;The minerals that are required to manufacture these batteries are notoriously rare and very <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/environmental-cost-of-batteries.html">dubiously</a> sourced.&nbsp;They also represent a significant recurring cost to businesses that deploy large numbers of IoT sensors.&nbsp;Imagine a facility that deploys a thousand wireless sensors - if each of these sensors will require battery replacements - even if it is only once every few years - that adds up to a lot of labour costs and hassle.&nbsp;But in spite of all these obvious disadvantages, batteries have persevered and are in fact, the go to power solution for IoT devices even today.&nbsp;Why, though?Let’s find out!<h2>Risk aversion or hidden merit?&nbsp;</h2><a href="https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/product/7784614-energy-harvesting-for-the-iot-addressable-">ABI Research</a> estimates that over 60% of current sensor deployments in industrial IoT environments are battery-operated, with minimal usage of state-of-the-art, <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/environmental-benefits-of-energy-harvesting.html">green</a> modalities such as energy harvesting.Moreover, there are <a href="https://www.idtechex.com/en/research-report/sensor-market/1038#:~:text=Global%20sensor%20market%20to%20grow,forecasts%2C%20segmented%20by%20sensor%20technology.">reports</a> that suggest that the IoT-battery market is actually growing, indicating that many companies still prefer the “tried and tested” batteries&nbsp; over potentially revolutionary, albeit unfamiliar alternatives.So, why is it that batteries continue to dominate the IoT sensor market in spite of so much pathbreaking innovation in the self-powered IoT arena?For one, engineers find them very easy to work with and design around. Companies have invested billions of dollars and decades of their time in perfecting Printed Circuit Board (PCB) layouts, mechanical housings and certification processes around battery-based semiconductor systems.&nbsp;<blockquote>Batteries are simply not the future-proof power solution that IoT’s next evolution demands, but an abrupt pivot to fully batteryless systems isn’t realistic either. Instead, the industry is looking toward transitional solutions—methods that recognize our present limitations but also nudge us toward more sustainable, self-powered approaches over time.</blockquote>There are very well-oiled supply chains that have been established around these products worldwide to enable fast prototyping and mass-production. Moreover, battery-based designs fit very neatly into existing regulatory frameworks, making it easier for companies to bring these products to market.&nbsp;Moreover, we’ve managed to create highly standardised modalities to measure battery capacity which makes it very easy to incorporate battery-related components into devices.&nbsp;Another major factor is form. OEMs have designed the form factors of their product lines around standard battery types - such as AA, AAA, coin cells - you name it. We understand the voltages, capacities, lifespans and capacities of these batteries and therefore, have modelled our designs to fit these widely available power solutions.&nbsp;This one might be obvious, but batteries are a product that boast of very well entrenched supply chains - they are manufactured by very large and well connected players - they make their way from factory floors to local distributors seamlessly, making it very cost effective, upfront,&nbsp; for companies to design their products around them.&nbsp;So, does this mean, we just accept the status-quo for what it is and not do anything about it?No Way!I think the trick here is to not take a zero-sum approach - it is essential to see the merit in both sides of the argument - there are a number of reasons why batteries still make practical sense for large-scale use in IoT - especially industrial IoT - and can’t be phased out instantaneously.&nbsp;But equally, we just can’t hide from the fact that we do need to start phasing them out at some point in the near future - they simply don’t belong in the high-tech connected world that we are creating - the world of AI, ML and edge computing. They are a stop-gap solution at best and it is imperative that we recognise this.&nbsp;They are not the future-proof power solution that the future of IoT demands from us - but here’s the thing - we’re not going to make a sudden leap - things never work that way. We need a gradual transition - we need solutions that are pragmatic enough to recognise our present limitations while being visionary enough to propel us towards the future, in whatever capacity they can.&nbsp;Many use-cases can benefit from a middle-of-the-way approach that doesn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater - an approach that integrates energy harvesting into existing battery-powered designs in order to bolster their lifespans and reduce their environmental footprint.&nbsp;Before we explore the hybrid approach, it is essential to answer this question - why bother making the shift at all?Firstly, there’s the elephant in the room - sustainability. We all bear a massive responsibility to hand over the planet in good shape to the generations to come. The e-waste crisis has reached an extent where we simply can’t ignore it any longer - reducing our battery turnover will have a direct impact on how many batteries end up in landfills and oceans. There’s also the indirect effects - fewer maintenance trips, lesser battery production and ergo, a smaller carbon footprint.&nbsp;Secondly, it just takes us closer to the original IoT dream - which was that of frictionless, untethered, “set-it-and-forget-it” sensing. Hybrid sensors bring us closer to that dream and batteryless sensors truly enable that dream - this is especially true in remote deployments and in harsh environments, where battery swaps are close to impossible.&nbsp;<h2>The Hybrid Approach - Bridging the Gap</h2>In recent years, energy harvesting technologies have emerged as by far the most compelling alternative to batteries when it comes to IoT power solutions. They enable truly batteryless sensors that are able to power themselves by energy harvested from their surroundings.&nbsp;We might not realise it, but there are swirling cascades of energy all around us at all times - energy harvesting technologies allow us to capture small packets of this energy and convert it into usable electricity that can power sensors and keep them untethered.&nbsp;There are a number of standards that have emerged in the past decade&nbsp; as viable contenders - RF energy harvesting, piezoelectric energy harvesting, photovoltaic energy harvesting etc.&nbsp;Energy harvesting powered sensors are cleaner, more economical (over their lifetimes) and more compact than their battery powered counterparts. However, as we saw earlier, there are other concerns that stop them from being adopted en masse.&nbsp;That’s why hybrid solutions are quickly becoming the sweet in-between option for manufacturers looking to get the best of both worlds. There are two schools of thought around these hybrid devices - the first one is to think of the battery as a safety net - the device primarily draws power from ambient sources and only taps into its battery when it needs a boost or when environmental conditions make energy harvesting difficult.&nbsp;The second one is to see the energy harvesting as a boost to the battery - increasing the battery life exponentially by reducing the load. Either way, these solutions are starting to make a lot of heads turn with their versatility and massive scope.&nbsp;&nbsp;They minimise disruption - manufacturers don’t have to overhaul entire product lines and supply chains. They increase reliability and scalability as we gradually build towards a totally batteryless future.&nbsp;So, what does a hybrid solution look like?Partial Energy Harvesting - You add a mini solar cell, RF harvester, or other ambient energy capture mechanism alongside the existing battery. This means the sensor can sip on harvested energy most of the time and only dip into battery reserves when ambient sources aren’t sufficient (e.g., at night or in signal-poor locations).Extended Battery Lifespan - By running off harvested energy whenever possible, the battery drains more slowly—significantly cutting down on replacements, maintenance trips, and environmental impact.No Major Overhaul - From an engineering perspective, you don’t have to scrap your entire product line or redesign from scratch. If you’ve already got standardized PCBs, enclosures, and supply chains for your battery components, you can often incorporate energy-harvesting modules with minimal disruption.<blockquote>One reason battery-based devices remain prevalent is the sheer familiarity of design processes. Engineers know exactly how to choose and test AA or CR2032 coin cells, and OEMs can count on a robust, global supply chain to source these components. According to ABI Research, more than 60% of current industrial IoT sensors still run on traditional batteries—a testament to the comfort and reliability that comes with well-understood power solutions.</blockquote>But why exactly does this hybrid model matter beyond the theoretical? Let’s get a bit more tangible—it helps to picture specific, real-world scenarios that show just how big an impact even partial energy harvesting can have.<h2>Bringing Hybrid to Life: Real-World Scenarios</h2><h3>1. Remote Farmland Sensors</h3>Imagine an agricultural setting with hundreds of soil moisture and temperature sensors spread across fields. Typically, these sensors run on coin cell batteries and last around 2 years before dying. A hybrid approach—adding a small solar panel or basic RF harvester—means the device draws ambient energy for most operations and sips on battery only when conditions are poor. Suddenly, that 2-year lifespan might double to 4 years or more.<h3>2. Industrial Warehouse Tracking</h3>Picture a vast warehouse with inventory-tracking tags on conveyor belts, pallets, and shelves. Most of these tags might last about 18 months on a small coin cell. But if you integrate a kinetic harvester (energy from motion) or exploit the constant hum of Wi-Fi signals, that battery might stretch to 3 years or more.Minimal Disruption: You don’t have to overhaul your entire warehouse workflow—just embed a harvesting module where the battery slot already exists.Extended Battery Lifespans: Doubling the life of each tag slashes replacement labor, making your entire operation smoother and more cost-effective.Strategic Scalability: As your company adds more sensors, you’re not exponentially increasing battery headaches—each new sensor can partly power itself.<h3>3. Shipping Container Trackers</h3>Consider GPS-enabled trackers attached to shipping containers moving across seas, rail lines, and trucks. Traditionally, these trackers need battery replacements every 6–8 months—which is no small feat when containers are constantly on the move. With a small solar panel on top, the device relies mostly on harvested energy during daylight, dipping into the battery only at night or in covered storage. That extends operational life to 2 years or more.Significant Maintenance Cuts: Fewer global hunts to locate each container and swap batteries.Continuous Visibility: Fewer dead trackers means less risk of losing cargo data in transit.Eco-Friendly Edge: Shipping companies can tout sustainability gains, appealing to both regulators and eco-conscious clients<h3>4. Healthcare Wearables</h3>Think about a patient-worn armband that monitors vitals in real time. Normally, it needs charging every couple of days—which many patients forget, creating data gaps. By integrating motion-based or RF-based harvesting, you can push that charging cycle out to nearly a week for some users.Better Compliance: Patients are more likely to keep wearing the device if they don’t have to charge it constantly.Improved Healthcare Outcomes: Continuous monitoring (fewer missed days) means earlier interventions if anomalies arise.Foundation for Batteryless: Once the wearables can reliably gather enough ambient energy, the battery can shrink or vanish entirely—especially valuable for remote patient monitoring in underserved areas.<h1>Making the Most of a Hybrid Model</h1>Whether it’s farmland, warehouses, shipping, or healthcare, partial energy harvesting can have massive ripple effects. Let’s connect the dots on why hybrid systems solve more than just the “battery annoyance” factor:Reduced E-Waste Even if you don’t achieve 100% batteryless operation, slashing battery replacements by half—or even a quarter—adds up to a monumental environmental win. Over a large fleet of sensors, fewer spent batteries in landfills means a smaller overall carbon footprint.Lower Operating Costs Every battery swap typically involves manual labor—someone has to locate the sensor, open it up, replace the battery, ensure it’s functioning again, and log the event. Multiply that by hundreds or thousands of nodes, and it’s a significant cost sink. When you extend battery lifespans with energy harvesting, you drastically reduce these site visits.Stepping Stone to Batteryless The infrastructure you build now—using low-power MCUs, partial harvesters, and redesigned PCB footprints—lays the groundwork for an eventual transition to fully battery-free devices. As energy-harvesting technology matures (improving cold-start capabilities, boosting capture efficiency), you can phase out the battery entirely in future device iterations.<h1>Keeping It Organic</h1>But let’s not forget the bigger picture: These scenarios and benefits aren’t just nice bullet points—they form part of a broader narrative about IoT’s natural evolution. We moved from wired sensors to battery-powered sensors because it freed us from wall sockets. Now we’re moving from battery-only to battery-plus-ambient-energy because it reduces cost, maintenance, and e-waste. Eventually, we’ll reach a point where ambient energy alone is enough in many (though not all) situations.“This is less of a revolution and more of a gentle shift,” says an imaginary IoT project manager. “We’re not throwing out our existing designs overnight. But every time we update a sensor, we add a tiny harvester. After a few generations, we’ll see how much we’ve cut down on batteries—and that’s a big deal.”The key is recognizing that batteries aren’t evil nor are they a permanent fixture. They’re simply tools that served a purpose for a while—and in many cases, continue to serve a purpose. But as IoT scales to tens of billions of devices, the environmental and economic downsides become too large to ignore. Hybrid energy solutions, in this sense, represent a pragmatic path—one that acknowledges our reliance on batteries but also paves the way for a more autonomous IoT.<h1>Conclusion: Embracing the Hybrid Mindset</h1>Ultimately, hybrid power solutions answer two pressing questions:How do we reduce battery replacements now? andHow do we transition smoothly to batteryless IoT in the future?By adding small but powerful energy harvesters—like solar panels, RF collectors, or piezoelectric elements—manufacturers and deployers can keep their existing battery-centric infrastructure and supply chains, yet dramatically reduce how often those batteries need replacing. That’s a huge win for the environment, a win for operational budgets, and a win for the original IoT vision of unfettered connectivity.So, while batteries remain the status quo, we don’t quite have to turn a blind eye to the serious limitations that they bring to the table. Challenge your designs, incorporate some ambient energy capture, and watch as your device runtimes stretch, your maintenance costs drop, and your brand reputation shines. The true promise of IoT—“deploy anywhere, run forever”—may be closer than we realize, and hybrid solutions are the stepping stones that will get us there.

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Batteries or Energy Harvesting - Can’t It Be Both?

Still do, to a degree.But lately, we’ve been sitting with it. Looking at what we’ve built. Talking to people. Watching how our story has landed out in the wild. And it’s become clear:We need to tell the whole truth now.<h2>Why we told the batteryless story to begin with</h2>Let’s rewind.When we started ONiO, we weren’t trying to be yet another MCU vendor with a clever logo and a new benchmark.Honestly, we were terrified of becoming invisible — just another piece of silicon with slightly better power figures and a PDF nobody reads.So we did what we had to do:We found a story.And it was a good one.Batteryless wasn’t just a gimmick. It was our origin — a design constraint that forced us to think differently. How do you build something that can cold-start from ambient energy alone?That question led us to ONiO.zero.It also gave us something way more rare: an actual identity.In a sea of suit-and-slide-deck semiconductor companies, we stood out. We felt like… people. With a point of view.<h2>We also knew we didn’t want to look like the rest of the industry.</h2>No face, no voice — just PDFs and jargon, occasionally interrupted by a press release or a talking head wandering the exhibition floor, badge swinging, rehearsing the same three phrases to a gimbal.<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/onio/image/upload/v1744202551/onio_off_to_ces_39c8b6901f.jpg" alt="onio_off_to_ces.jpg"></figure>You know the type: coffee in hand, LinkedIn post ready - “Off to CES - let’s gooo 🚀”We weren’t interested in that.We wanted a brand that felt like us: curious, sharp, design-forward. A little weird. Human.So we built something people could connect with. A chip, yes — but also a story, a tone, an unique visual language. Something that didn’t just talk at people, but invited them in.A chip can be beautiful. So can the story that carries it.And batteryless gave us a way to say all of that in one word.<h2>The problem with one story</h2>But here’s the flip side of telling a strong story:Sometimes people only hear that story. And nothing else.We got pegged.As the batteryless guys. The purists.The ones who build fruit-powered demos and do firefly math.And to be honest — we love that part.We still do it.It’s fun. It makes people think. And it’s real.But somewhere along the way, people started assuming that was all we were.And in letting that story lead, we may have oversimplified our own reality.Because the truth is, most real-world applications aren’t black or white.Some are perfect for batteryless. Some need a supercap. Some are better off with a rechargeable cell. Others just want 10x battery life and no drama.We’ve always known that.We just didn’t talk about it enough.<h2>So what’s actually true?</h2>What’s true is this: ONiO.zero is an absurdly low-power, wireless RISC-V microcontroller that can run on harvested energy — from light, RF, whatever.In the right conditions, you really can skip the battery entirely.But that’s not the only way to win.Maybe you want a BLE-connected sensor that lasts five years on a tiny coin cell.Or a smart label that never needs charging.Or a soil monitor with a solar panel and a little backup.Or a keyboard that powers up as you type.That’s the world we’re building for.We didn’t set out to kill the battery.We set out to design like batteries weren’t guaranteed.<h2>What we actually believe</h2>We believe in designing for power independence.Not as a feature. As a mindset.We believe maintenance is the real enemy.That good design feels invisible.That “energy harvesting” shouldn’t sound like science fiction.And that in a few years, asking “how long does it last?” will feel weird — because the answer will just be: as long as you want.<h2>We’re still ONiO</h2>We still love weird builds and scavenged power and the elegance of restraint.We still care about making semiconductors that don’t feel like they came out of a corporate birth canal.But more than anything, we care about telling the truth — and telling it well.So yeah, we’ll still write about the joy of batteryless design.But we’re also going to show what it looks like to build real systems, with real constraints, in the real world.Some of those will have no battery.Some will have a battery that barely gets used.And some will plug in. That’s okay too.The point isn’t purity.The point is possibility.<h2>In the end</h2>We’re not trying to win a sustainability badge.We’re trying to help engineers design smarter systems - ones that last longer, waste less, and just work.If that means no battery, great.If that means fewer batteries in better places, even better.We’re still ONiO.We still build chips that run off the air.We’re just not limiting ourselves to one storyline anymore.Because the story we’re writing now?It’s bigger. And more fun. And way more real.

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Batteryless was never the point

<h1>Sustainable electronics disentangled</h1>Sustainability is taking centre stage in many business sectors and the electronics industry is no exception. Yet, when we look deep into the newest electronic devices around us, are these really fundamentally more sustainable than the ones we were used to 10 or 20 years ago? In this article, we will look into how to make IoT and small electronic devices more sustainable, namely through energy harvesting. In doing that, we will introduce the SELECT project, where ONiO and a group of strategic partners are bringing together unique building blocks to enable a more sustainable future for electronics.IoT nodes and small, portable electronic devices are an integral part of today’s increasingly digitally connected society. The <a href="https://iot-analytics.com/number-connected-iot-devices/">number of connected IoT devices</a> was estimated at 19 billion in 2024, projected to grow to more than 40 billion by 2030. Yet, the growth of IoT seems to be lagging behind compared to some of the earlier prognostics, which have, for instance, pointed to <a href="https://community.arm.com/cfs-file/__key/telligent-evolution-components-attachments/01-1996-00-00-00-01-30-09/Arm-_2D00_-The-route-to-a-trillion-devices-_2D00_-June-2017.pdf">one trillion IoT devices produced until 2035</a>. One of the major bottlenecks limiting further scalability of present and future IoT is power and, in particular, the reliance on pervasively spread battery-powered devices. At the same time, the scale of deployments raises deep concerns with sustainability, concerns which spread across IoT, small electronic devices, and the electronics industry at large.<h2>Sustainability: beyond the buzz&nbsp;</h2>Despite all the buzz around sustainability over the past decades, truth be told, the core materials and the pillar principles of electronics design for mass production remain pretty much unchanged. Yet, the industry has a growing pool of more sustainable options on the table nowadays, and it’s time to turn the talk about sustainability into real, impactful actions.It is not difficult to find grand vision statements about sustainability from large electronics corporations in the past few years. For instance, back in 2021, <a href="https://www.itweb.co.za/article/samsung-in-green-push-for-tv-line-up/xnklOqzLgx974Ymz">Samsung announced</a> that its TV business was on a journey of “going green”. Among the action points was the introduction of solar-powered remote controls that, according to the company, could help prevent waste from 99 million AAA batteries over seven years. Another example is <a href="https://www.theverge.com/24206847/logitech-ceo-hanneke-faber-mouse-keyboard-gaming-decoder-podcast-interview">Logitech’s plan</a> to reduce its carbon footprint by half, including the introduction of long-lasting hardware like the “forever mouse” concept.Despite all the nice talk and good intentions, the electronics industry in general, and the IoT and small electronics segment in particular, is facing strong challenges with sustainability. The industry still relies on raw materials that are highly polluting (e.g. heavy metals in batteries) and greenhouse gas-intensive (e.g. conventional printed circuit board laminates), and their replacement is quite challenging from technical and cost perspectives. A resolute stab at sustainability requires looking into every single component of an electronic system and the whole system’s life cycle. The market actors that do not take this seriously risk being severely penalised by customers and consumers, who are increasingly awake to signs of frail ESG policies and greenwashing.<h2>Energy harvesting gaining momentum</h2>A growing number of IoT-connected devices, including the ones with low-power consumption (1 micro Watt to 1 milli Watt range), continue to rely on disposable or rechargeable batteries. Yet, batteries are far from being a good solution for powering small electronics, especially single-use coin cells or alkaline power cells typically used in such devices. Small devices reliant on batteries are a problem for several reasons. On the one hand, the limited lifespan of batteries and the high costs and burden associated with battery replacement and device maintenance can become a logistical nightmare in very large distributed node systems. On the other hand, the social and environmental problems associated with the lifecycle of batteries and respective raw materials such as <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/environmental-cost-of-batteries.html">lithium and cobalt</a>. In a nutshell, batteries are bound to represent an apparent bottleneck in the massive deployment of IoT devices and a huge environmental problem. Therefore, it becomes clear that players serious about sustainability must look into batteries and consider better alternatives whenever possible.&nbsp;That’s where <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/ambient-energy-world-of-iot.html">energy harvesting</a> comes into play. The market arena for energy harvesting, aka <a href="https://www.bluetooth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/MRN_Ambient-IOT.pdf">Ambient IoT</a>, is growing in importance. The use of energy harvesting for small electronics is not entirely new. For instance, portable electronic devices such as calculators and watches powered by small photovoltaic panels were popular during the 1980s and 1990s. Yet, that trend did not pick up, and batteries have taken over the business of powering small portable electronics almost entirely. Now, the growth of the IoT together with technical progress in ultra low power electronics and ambient energy harvesting are providing a new opportunity for energy harvesting.&nbsp;The emergence of new ultra low power microchips, such as <a href="https://www.onio.com/products/onio-zero.html">ONiO.zero</a>, and new harvesting technologies, such as <a href="https://www.epishine.com/">Epishine</a>’s very efficient photovoltaic cells, are revamping the interest in energy harvesting. Early examples of use cases include asset tracking, condition-based monitoring, cold-chain monitoring, building automation and home control. The total market opportunity is <a href="https://www.bluetooth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/MRN_Ambient-IOT.pdf">sized at trillions of units</a>.<h2>A change in mindset: electronics design for energy harvesting</h2>The design and development of electronic devices for energy harvesting requires a fundamentally different approach than the usual development for battery power. Energy harvesting typically generates only minimal amounts of power, meaning that the electronic circuits and systems must be tuned for extreme power performance and flexibility. Besides, ambient energy is often available in variable levels and intermittent modes. For instance, light levels are variable in most environments, and the same goes for radio frequency sources, depending on proximity to antennas, routers, mobile phones, etc. Hence, power management strategies must be designed for intermittent energy availability. Summing up, the electronic systems must be capable of harvesting under the most demanding conditions (e.g. very low light or weak radio frequency sources), run from ultra low power levels, store and manage any excess energy in the best way possible. By the same token, energy budgeting and duty cycle planning are keystones for seamless batteryless operation from ambient energy - emphasizing the importance of a crystal clear understanding of the requirements for each application and use-case.As a minimum, a functional energy harvesting device/system needs the following building-blocks: (1) one or more energy harvesters, harnessing ambient energy from light, radio frequency, motion or thermal gradients; (2) integrated circuits for control, processing and communication; (3) an energy storage/buffer element; (4) the load(s), i.e. the element(s) being powered, which may include sensors, transmitters, controllers, etc. These and a few additional auxiliary components must be mounted on an electronic printed circuit board (PCB). The SELECT project focuses on each of these elements and their seamless integration for deploying sustainable electronics with energy harvesting.<h2>The SELECT project</h2>The SELECT project brings together six partners on the quest for sustainable electronics. The project is co-financed by the <a href="https://eurekanetwork.org/programmes/eurostars/">Eurostars program</a>.ONiO leads the way with its ultra low power microcontroller tailored for energy harvesting, <a href="https://www.onio.com/products/onio-zero.html">ONiO.zero</a>, at the core of the project. <a href="https://www.onio.com/products/onio-zero.html">ONiO.zero</a> combines an <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/onio-riscv-coremark-results.html">ultra power-efficient RISC-V CPU</a> with an advanced power management integrated circuit (PMIC) and wireless radio communication on a single microchip. Epishine provides highly efficient and versatile printed organic photovoltaic cells optimized for indoor conditions, which are <a href="https://www.epishine.com/technology/lca">best-in-class with respect to sustainability</a>. <a href="https://www.lignaenergy.com/">Ligna Energy</a> owns unique supercapacitor technology that leverages bio-based sustainable materials and roll-to-roll manufacturing methods for green, safe and ultra-thin energy storage. <a href="https://www.jivamaterials.com/">Jiva Materials</a> offers Soluboard®, a fully recyclable and biodegradable rigid PCB laminate with a 67% lower carbon footprint than glass-fibre and epoxy technologies used in conventional FR-4 PCBs. These four partners put in the key ingredients for the SELECT recipe. The consortium is complemented by two end-user partners: <a href="https://www.pricer.com/">Pricer</a>, a partner for in-store communication and digitalization and a leading supplier of Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) solutions, and <a href="https://www.4modtechnology.com/">4MOD Technology</a>, a versatile company specialising in the design and engineering of remote controls and IoT solutions.The team will tune each of the key ingredients (microcontroller, photovoltaic harvester, supercapacitor, Soluboard® PCB), focusing on solving the challenges involved in their orchestration to work optimally together. These components are already available now, but their combination brings benefits to the next level. The project will generate reference boards and development kits combining these key elements - i.e. forming a SELECT platform ready to use in the development of a new order of sustainable IoT and small electronic products.The new SELECT platform will be able to serve a wide range of applications across the IoT and small electronics market verticals. During the project, the partners will focus on two lead applications: ESLs, under Pricer’s leadership, and remote control units, headed by 4MOD Technology. The key outputs of the project will include reference designs and prototypes customised for these two demo cases. But the SELECT platform will be ready to target an array of additional product categories, with a view to fast-tracking energy harvesting-based solutions to real market products that can effectively compete with the current battery-based standards.SELECT is using some of the most sustainable components available, with benefits in toxicity and contamination of the environment and particularly in carbon emissions. A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows a potential for saving at least 150.000 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year if the SELECT solutions were rolled out across the ESL and remote control markets (estimated at 300 and 400 million units per year, respectively). This is the equivalent of taking over 100.000 combustion engine cars off the streets. These savings were estimated from removing single-use batteries and using photovoltaic harvesters instead, plus replacing FR-4 PCB with Soluboard®. The SELECT project includes systematic Life Cycle Analyses where the environmental benefits will be studied in detail and computed in a proper manner. In any case, looking at these ballpark calculations for the two test cases only, and considering the total space of applications that can be targeted by SELECT - extending from industrial IoT sensors to building automation, electronic tags and trackers, wearables, etc. - the extent of the project's impacts can be massive.<h2>Conclusion</h2>The tools to make IoT and small electronic devices way more sustainable are already on the table today. But we need to move from individual eco-friendly components to systems fully orchestrated to work optimally with more sustainable options such as energy harvesting. The added value of the SELECT solutions lies in the seamless integration of sustainable building blocks to craft an electronics development platform built with a 360º view on sustainability, from individual components to system level.&nbsp;Besides focusing on performance and sustainability, the SELECT platform will enable the deployment of very cost effective products and systems, especially when considering system bill-of-materials and lifetime costs. By removing batteries and simplifying electronic systems, SELECT will reduce the component count and footprint of electronics, with a positive impact on costs. Hence, SELECT will bring unprecedented possibilities in terms of thinness, material minimization and low cost of end devices. Moreover, with no battery changes, maintenance and lifetime costs will be much reduced, bringing logistics and cost benefits for the end users. Finally, for many product categories, the device’s lifetime will be extended and costs with end-of-life, namely recycling, will also be reduced.The SELECT partners' ambition is bold: mastering energy harvesting while redefining electronics with sustainability at the core. Power is on!

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Sustainable electronics disentangled

As Faber later had to clarify, the concept of a “forever mouse” wasn’t an actual product but merely an idea. Her comment garnered so much attention that she had to confirm it wasn’t about any specific device.&nbsp;But, when seen in the right context, Faber’s words weren’t really about a mouse at all—they were about something much bigger. The widespread reaction missed the larger point she was making.Faber wasn’t simply hyping up her company with a hypothetical product. She was highlighting a paradigm-shifting movement in the tech industry—a rethinking of how we approach innovation, design, and, ultimately, technology itself.There is simply no running away from the fact that the tech industry has developed some pretty unsustainable habits over the past few decades - habits like planned obsolescence, short upgrade cycles, proprietary repair mechanisms and deliberately sub-par build qualities have contributed massively to our massive e-waste <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/batteryless-vs-better-recycling-iot-future.html">problem</a>.The sheer ridiculousness of this constant upgrade culture we see around us is all too tired a trope - it’s common knowledge at this point that we’ve allowed tech companies to bamboozle us with their scarcity-driven marketing.&nbsp;While the smartphone unequivocally represented a huge breakthrough in communication and information technology, it has now become emblematic of this economic sleight of hand that’s being perpetrated by tech giants - a carousel of perpetual consumption, where smartphones are released year after year accompanied by meticulously crafted marketing narratives designed to cloak their predecessors in a veil of inadequacy.&nbsp;These practices deplete rare earth minerals, place enormous amounts of strain on water reserves and contribute to the generation of millions of tonnes of electronic waste.&nbsp;It is <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/electronic-waste-(e-waste)#:~:text=Key%20facts,collected%20and%20recycled%20(2).">estimated</a> by the WHO that over 62 million tonnes of e-waste was produced in the year 2022! Of this, only a paltry 22.3% was formally recorded to have been recycled. These are truly terrifying numbers! We are fast approaching a point where we will be compelled to change course dramatically or face some seriously dire consequences.&nbsp;We’ve created a system (yes we’re all responsible for this!) that has normalised wastefulness and apathy towards precious natural resources. Faber’s forever mouse is emblematic of a new paradigm emerging among tech leaders who understand the precarity of this situation we find ourselves in - a paradigm that prioritises durability, repairability and sustainability over relentlessly churning out low-quality products and in turn, neglecting long-term welfare for short term gains.&nbsp;<h2>The Battery Problem</h2>15 billion batteries are produced every year! That’s a crazy number! Here’s another crazy number –&nbsp; 62 million tonnes of e-waste is generated every year, making its way into landfills and our oceans.&nbsp;This is a grave threat to all life on our planet.&nbsp;Batteries were once seen as a lifeline that would take us to a greener and more sustainable future. But today, the stark reality of batteries is there for everyone to see. Modern Li-ion batteries use rare minerals that are concentrated in specific parts of the world - Lithium and Cobalt for the most part.&nbsp;Lithium mining ravages water tables and wreaks havoc on local ecosystems. Cobalt is largely found in one country - the Democratic Republic of Congo - and is mined by child miners who get paid a pittance and end up developing chronic illnesses that severely impact their futures.The basic point we’re trying to get at is this - our massive global appetite for batteries is a huge red flag in terms of sustainability. For a number of years now, there has been a growing realization that we need a viable alternative power solution. Batteries are not the green power solution that they’re made out to be.&nbsp;<h2>The Rise of Energy Harvesting</h2>This is where energy harvesting technology enters the picture. What if our everyday devices could power themselves using ambient energy from their environment? It's not science fiction—it's happening right now.Energy harvesting technology allows devices to capture and utilize energy from various sources:<ul><li>Movement and vibration (kinetic energy)</li><li>Light (solar energy)</li><li>Temperature differences (thermal energy)</li><li>Radio frequency signals (RF energy)</li></ul>This technology is particularly suited for low-power devices like computer peripherals, which is why Faber's "forever mouse" concept isn't as far-fetched as it might seem. Modern ultra-low-power microcontrollers can operate on incredibly small amounts of energy—we're talking microwatts here. By harvesting energy from the environment, these devices can operate indefinitely without ever needing a battery change.<h2>Beyond the Mouse: A New Paradigm</h2>The implications of this technology extend far beyond just computer mice. Imagine a world where all your peripherals—keyboards, headsets, remote controls, game controllers—never need battery replacement. But it's more than just convenience; it's about fundamentally changing our relationship with technology.This new paradigm is built on several key principles:<h3>1. Durability by Design</h3>Durability is one the defining principles behind this new wave of forever devices. Products that are designed to last for decades and not just 3-4 years. High-quality materials and builds that stand the test of time and don’t ask for incessant upgrades.&nbsp;Moreover, modularity is a major part of this as well - modular designs that allow for repairs and upgrades.&nbsp;<h3>2. Software-First Innovation</h3>This is all about enabling continuous improvement through updates and rolling out new features without necessitating hardware replacements.&nbsp;Which means that devices get to have extended lifespans simply as a result of optimisation and sound design.&nbsp;<h3>3. Sustainable Materials</h3>This one’s pretty much a no-brainer. Recycled and recyclable components form the crux of sustainable design which is built around responsible sourcing and minimal environmental impact.<h2>The Economic Shift</h2>Critics might argue that such durable devices would hurt companies' bottom lines. However, this view is increasingly outdated. Companies like Logitech are recognizing that sustainability isn't just good for the planet—it's good for business:Customers are willing to pay premium prices for lasting quality. Over the course of their ownership, this would imply lower warranty and support costs - not to mention the brand loyalty that companies stand to build through commitment to ethical practices. Moreover, this also opens the doors to new revenue streams from software and services,.&nbsp;<h2>Technical Innovation Meets Environmental Responsibility</h2>The technology enabling this revolution is already here. Ultra-low-power microcontrollers, like <a href="http://ONiO.zero">ONiO.zero</a>, can operate on minimal energy while providing robust processing capabilities. These cutting-edge chips represent a quantum leap in energy efficiency, starting up from less than 1μW of power and seamlessly operating on various energy harvesting sources. They maintain reliable wireless connectivity while processing complex inputs, all with minimal power consumption, making them ideal for the next generation of sustainable devices.<h2>The Path Forward</h2>The shift to batteryless peripherals won't happen overnight, but the momentum is building. Industry leaders are recognizing that the future of consumer electronics lies not in planned obsolescence, but in creating lasting value through sustainable innovation. This monumental transition demands comprehensive industry collaboration on standards alongside sustained investment in energy harvesting research. Success will also depend on effective consumer education about sustainable technology and supportive policy frameworks for sustainable manufacturing practices.<h2>A New Chapter in Tech Evolution</h2>Faber's "forever mouse" concept represents more than just a product idea—it's a symbol of where technology needs to go. As we face increasing environmental challenges, the tech industry must evolve from being part of the problem to becoming part of the solution.The future of consumer electronics isn't about churning out endless new models or forcing unnecessary upgrades. It's about creating devices that last, that improve over time, and that respect both user needs and environmental constraints.<h2>Conclusion</h2>The transition to batteryless, sustainable peripherals represents a crucial step toward a more sustainable tech industry. It challenges us to rethink not just how we power our devices, but how we approach technology consumption as a whole.As we move forward, the success of this transition will depend on continued innovation in energy harvesting technology, commitment from industry leaders, and support from consumers who understand that the best technology is that which serves both human needs and environmental sustainability.The "forever mouse" might have been just a concept, but the future it represents is very real—and it's closer than we think. We're entering an era where technology can truly last forever, powered by the world around us, designed for durability, and built with the planet in mind.

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Beyond Batteries: The Future of Forever Devices

And that’s why we’re paying attention to the Internet of Military Things (IoMT).<h2>A Quiet Shift in the Field</h2>IoMT isn’t about flashy drones or sci-fi weaponry. It’s about infrastructure. Layers of small, silent devices — sensors, wearables, nodes — gathering data at the edges of operational environments and quietly pushing it back to decision-makers.The goal isn’t novelty. It’s awareness — real-time information that makes missions safer, faster, and more precise.But that awareness comes at a cost: power.<h2>The Battery Tax</h2>Every device you deploy is a device you have to account for. Charge. Replace. Recharge. Keep track of. And in high-risk, high-complexity environments, battery logistics become their own shadow mission.That’s not news to anyone in defense. Entire ops structures exist just to support power.So when we talk about batteryless sensing, we’re not pitching magic. We’re asking: What happens if the smallest, least critical devices didn’t need batteries at all?<h2>What We Bring to the Table</h2>ONiO.zero isn’t a mil-spec platform. It’s not hardened for frontline combat. But it’s been designed, from silicon upward, to operate with almost no power.It cold-starts from &lt;1μW. It runs without firmware. It harvests energy from RF, light, heat, or motion. And it’s already being used in consumer and industrial applications where battery swaps simply aren’t an option.We’re not here to replace your radios. We’re here to ask: Could your most disposable, hard-to-access, or risk-sensitive sensing nodes run on their own — quietly and indefinitely?<h2>Think in Terms of Roles</h2>A drone may need batteries.A soldier’s HUD may need batteries.But a vibration sensor zip-tied under a convoy axle? That could be energy-autonomous.A node buried in snow, checking environmental drift? That could run on harvested energy.A passive contact sensor embedded in a box that might never open? Same.<h2>It’s Not About Going Batteryless Everywhere</h2>It’s about going batteryless where it makes sense.In defense, where deployment costs are high and maintenance can be risky, even small reductions in battery dependency can mean real strategic gain.Fewer site visits. Fewer logistical dependencies. Lower thermal signatures. Less risk.<h2>We're Not Pretending to Know It All</h2>We’re not writing this as experts in military doctrine. We’re writing as engineers who think in constraints. And when we look at the way military sensing is scaling, we see an obvious constraint that’s still being accepted as default: the battery.It won’t go away. But we’re building hardware that makes it less necessary.If you’re thinking about the future of sensing in defense — particularly the quiet, cheap, critical-but-not-complex parts — we’d love to show you what ONiO.zero can do.Because sometimes, the smartest thing a device can do… is need nothing at all.

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The Industry of Military Things — Rethinking Power at the Edge

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Is IoT Technology Going To Help Salvage Our Ocean Crisis?

One Coremark is a single execution or iteration of the program so it lends itself handy in two ways. Both benchmark how many iterations can be executed per clock cycle (MHz) and how many iterations per energy unit (mJ). Typically a CPU will display a certain number for Coremark per megahertz; CM/MHz. Broadly speaking the higher this number is the better or more computational load can be performed by the CPU.When designing digital IPs such as a CPU there is no problem to achieve high computational efficiency if no weight is to be put on how much energy is being used. Now, to use Coremark to also benchmark computational energy efficiency: one measures the number of Coremark per millijoule; ULPMark-CM.Now that we know a bit more about Coremark and what we can use it for - let’s consider a few things.<h2>The Coremark Applicability</h2>There is certainly an argument to be had when it comes to how applicable or representative Coremark is for what you do in your application. Because the benchmark itself is written in a way where the CPU is loaded in a way that is very synthetic, especially for an embedded system. And here we can only nod and say yes, for many applications this is true. However, at the same time Coremark is a nice way to compare between various product offerings in the market. That naturally creates a momentum for pushing as high CM/MHz or CM/mJ. One can certainly see this in the ARM Cortex M lineup, where the M0, M0+, M3, M4 and M33 largely share the same instruction set - but due to implementation differences they yield different Coremark scores.<h2>RISCY ARM wrestle?</h2>At ONiO we utilise the RISC-V instruction set. Everyone will have their own justification for licensing an CPU IP or implementing their own. Certainly, it is very clear that over time ARM’s Cortex M lineup provides some very strong CM/MHz numbers where for instance an M33 in some of the products from ST, Nordic Semiconductor etc. will yield around 4CM/MHz. This is very strong compared to most RISC-V implementations that can be licensed. These seem to offer between 2.8-3.4CM/MHz, something that is certainly not bad scores - but seemingly a bit short compared to ARM. And of course there are some IPs that are better than the numbers listed here! At ONiO we knew pushing beyond 3.2-3.4CM/MHz meant that we had to compromise computational efficiency. Or in other words energy had to be wasted to get more computational power. Being an energy harvested system the gravity is always towards energy efficiency. And thus no such tradeoffs were done.<h2>Gameplay: Upperhand</h2>Luckily a CPU by itself is pretty meaningless - you need a bus system, memories, a clock source and some kind of power management system. And &nbsp;this is where the battle is ultimately going to be won - and where ONiO does its magic. Make all of these pieces really well, fabricate them in a good CMOS process and you have a great combination.For an energy harvesting system like the one implemented on ONiO,there are some disadvantages. Typically when you make a power management system it is easier to achieve a high efficiency number as the power load increases. Simply because at low loads, the quiescent power of the switcher is non negligible. Furthermore - Coremark is run at 3V fixed rail not a solar cell. So while most MCUs will optimise their power delivery system to alway buck down a 3V source to a core voltage and thus have great current translation rate.<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/onio/image/upload/v1719475422/CRT_Coremark_2_b7f7a6d9ff.jpg" alt="CRT-Coremark-2.jpg"></figure><h2>Conclusion</h2>ONiO.zero is capable of a very respectable 135CM/mJ and 22uW/MHz while running Coremark from non-volatile memory! A result we are very proud of and an excellent tradeoff between computational and power efficiency. &nbsp;

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ONiO RISC-V Coremark Results

<div class="raw-html-embed"><div id="elevenlabs-audionative-widget" data-height="90" data-width="100%" data-frameborder="no" data-scrolling="no" data-publicuserid="6c21a9b7ad57703231dc05932a21048d408feec7404ccb881f833127d05d8391" data-playerurl="https://elevenlabs.io/player/index.html" data-projectid="EK1A8lqFLj7Bo9T0cmTf">Loading the <a href="https://elevenlabs.io/text-to-speech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elevenlabs Text to Speech</a> AudioNative Player...</div><script src="https://elevenlabs.io/player/audioNativeHelper.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Understandable right? It’s probably par for the course to be a little jaded with all the sustainability stuff that we’re being bombarded with on the internet. There’s so much sanctimony, name calling, finger pointing, partisanship and doomsaying that we find ourselves just throwing our hands up in exasperation.&nbsp;What’s the point even? It’s just depressing!It doesn’t need to be though.&nbsp;There seems to be this popular notion floating about that things have never been as bad as they are today.&nbsp;Are we sure about this?Forget about arriving at some overarching, comprehensive conclusion that takes ALL the variables into account - if that’s even possible - but if we only looked around us and compared our lives to that of our grandparents or great-grandparents, there’s a lot to be thankful for.&nbsp;Smallpox - I mean, think about it - that couldn’t have been fun!There’s so much pessimism and maybe worse&nbsp; - so much certainty about the fact that things have never been worse - which is probably not true, all things considered.Make no mistake, we ARE up against some pretty monumental challenges - the battery waste crisis, soil pollution, deforestation, mass extinctions - you name it!&nbsp;but it’s not all bad - we’ve given a good account of ourselves with a lot of stuff - more people than ever before have access to education, wealth, personal safety and social opportunities. We have the internet! Woohoo!We’ve created a world where people from one country can move to another without necessarily being attacked for looking different.&nbsp;Where are you going with all this?What we’re getting at is this - do conversations around sustainability and ecology necessarily have to be the kind that cause jaded resignment?&nbsp;Is there a better way to talk about these topics?Could we frame these collective issues in a better way? In a way that actually allows for more creativity, positivity and solutions - rather than negativity, pessimism, anxiety and divisiveness?<h1>Not The Worst Times</h1>As we mentioned earlier, a lot of things are working well in today’s world - we really need to get to terms with this fact. The <a href="https://upworthyscience.com/steven-pinker-data-shows-that-life-today-is-better-than-ever/">statistics</a> bear this out as well - maybe this idea comes from a very myopic perspective - one not informed by a study of history perhaps.&nbsp;If only we flipped through the pages of history and saw how hopeless we were for most of our history - what with wars, famines, diseases and poverty - we wouldn’t be quite so certain in dismissing the modern world so completely; for all its problems, it does have a lot going for itself.Why are we stuck on this point?Because this is probably one of the most significant underlying reasons for our negativity and pessimism around topics of sustainability - that we think we are the only generation of people to have ever faced huge challenges in the world.&nbsp;That’s simply not true.&nbsp;Living on this planet has always been a tenuous, scary and precariously uncertain proposition - if anything, more so in the past than today.&nbsp;Maybe we just have access to a lot more information on a global scale than people did in the past - maybe this creates the illusion that there’s something wrong all the time. Our nervous systems are always in a state of panic - high alert!And then no wonder we make these dreadful conclusions about these “terrible” times that we live in - as if it was a foregone conclusion that we’re the most unlucky generation of people ever to roam the face of earth.&nbsp;This can’t be coming as a surprise to anyone though - Come on - we’re pretty negativity biased as individuals - it would only stand to reason that we’d be negativity biased as a collective as well.&nbsp;See, the thing is - the human nervous system is designed in a way to prioritise negatively valenced stimuli, information and feedback over positive ones.Why is that, you ask?Well, to flog an already overworked cliche - picture our prehistoric ancestors - the ones who were the most la-di-da just weren’t as good at survival as the ones who were super sensitive to paranoia about getting mauled to death by a sabertooth tiger -&nbsp;We’re oversimplifying - but you get the gist.&nbsp;This negative bias exists to help us survive. The pain caused by unfavourable situations and outcomes outweighs the pleasure caused by positive situations and outcomes - this helps us survive.&nbsp;Dr.Jordan Peterson expresses the same sentiment rather succinctly when he says&nbsp;“well it’s because you can be absolutely dead and you can only be so happy”OK now,&nbsp;Back to the matter at hand….The facts seem to suggest that we’re miles ahead of any other group of people to have inhabited this planet across a whole bunch of metrics.&nbsp;And yet, we’re all so doom and gloom about things.&nbsp;See, we’re not naive optimists. Like we mentioned earlier, it IS true that we are up against some pretty TITANIC challenges that we’ll have to find some immediate answers to if we intend to keep this party going.&nbsp;But that doesn’t call for doom and gloom, does it?Urgency? Yes, for sure.&nbsp;Global cooperation, common sense, collective responsibility - yes, yes, yes - all of that!But not doom and gloom!&nbsp;Doom and gloom isn’t going to help us. Innovating might help us. Sharing ideas might help us. But collective despair isn’t going to take us very far unfortunately.&nbsp;There might even be a case to make that all this chaos that we’re unfurling on the planet is down to us feeling so crummy and trying to make ourselves feel better with more stuff.&nbsp;Granted, that’s a wild oversimplification but it’s not entirely without credence.&nbsp;Our overconsumption is a coping mechanism for all sorts of negativity. If anything, more doomsday prophesying is only going to make our problems worse.&nbsp;<h1>The cheerful, optimistic case for sustainability</h1>Look, we’re making a mess of the planet.&nbsp;There’s no two ways about that. We simply have to face the facts. Whether we like it or not, we’re being faced with some pretty big challenges that are not simply going to disappear.&nbsp;But here’s the thing.&nbsp;Can we be more optimistic with it?Can we bring a sense of lightness to it?Hey - we’re just asking questions here. We’re no experts. But this is what we think.&nbsp;We do need to talk about this stuff. The more we talk about this stuff, the more our chances of actually being able to come up with powerful solutions.&nbsp;And make no mistake, we do need to do more than talk as well. More people talking about sustainability is good but that isn’t enough in itself.&nbsp;We need to take action.&nbsp;We need to implement real changes to the way we do things. Change our collective habits. Come up with new ways of doing things.&nbsp;None of this is optional. None of this can be wished away.&nbsp;But again, none of this is cause for doom and gloom. Seriousness isn’t going to solve the problem.&nbsp;In fact, it might just do the opposite.&nbsp;It might create so much subconscious resistance and fear in us that we choose to ignore these problems altogether. That would be a proper disaster.&nbsp;In fact that’s already what’s going on in many ways.&nbsp;For many of us, sustainability is a pet issue that we love to talk about.&nbsp;We love talking about it, making noise around it and pointing fingers at those we think are responsible.&nbsp;But then, we go back to our usual ways - overconsumption, apathy and haphazardness.&nbsp;This is not helping the planet.And, it definitely isn’t helping us.&nbsp;Here’s an alternative.What if we reverse the equation?What if we replace doom and gloom with cheerful optimism - and replace the apathy and overconsumption with concerted action, mindful consumption and more environmentally sensible behaviour?Doesn’t that just immediately sound like a better way of going about things?And it’s not just a psychological hack either - in spite of all the negativity around the topic, there is actually quite a lot of reason to cheer.&nbsp;Contrary to the narrative that the world is falling apart, there is actually quite a bit of evidence to suggest the contrary - we are seeing a massive uptick in various measures of human wellness.&nbsp;Take a look at the infographic below for instance - it’s very telling -&nbsp; we’ve never done better than we are doing right now in terms of wealth, education or health.&nbsp;But you might say - “hey! but those are not sustainability markers”Fair enough - but worries about sustainability are just a tiny bit downstream from worries about the state of the world overall - we tend to be pessimistic about current issues - this makes it difficult for us to see these challenges in the right context.&nbsp;We tend to forget that life on earth has always been rife with challenging situations and things have actually never been better.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/onio/image/upload/v1722258758/World_as_100_people_2024_1350_78d637cbff.png" alt="World-as-100-people-2024_1350.png"><figcaption>Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions'</figcaption></figure><h2>Looking Ahead</h2>These are exciting times to live in.&nbsp;Modern technology allows us to come together, globally, like never before.&nbsp;The challenges we are faced with are daunting - but our capabilities are pretty incredible too.&nbsp;Let’s replace pessimism with resolute grit. Apathy with urgency. Despair with focused action and worry with relentless cheer.Relax. We got this!

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Is there a better way to talk about sustainability?

Informative and backed by solid research - welcome to our growing archive of articles!