Power Vents

Saving energy is a constant design challenge for all engineers and is up front and center for power supply design engineers. One way they are accomplishing this is to design in digital technologies and use digital power ICs where possible. The trend for using digital power supplies and digital ICs is seeing enormous growth with revenues for each projected to grow almost 65% in 2014, according to report  The World Market for Digital Power – 2014 from IHS Technology. The report said that global revenue for digital power supplies is forecast to be about $3.3 billion in 2014 and $11.8 billion by 2018. For digital power ICs, the global revenue in 2014 will be $605 million and reach $3.1 billion by 2018.

The leaders in the digital power supply market are Delta Electronics (10.3%), Eltek  (9.1%), and Emerson(8.8%), holding the top three revenue shares. For the digital ICs it’s no surprise that TI  leads with a revenue market share of 9.8%, closely followed by Powervation  with 8.9%. The conclusion by the report is that no supplier has a dominant position and that competition and innovation are important to win new customers.

Shrinking electricity usage

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) says that it acts as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors. The group recently completed an analysis of electricity trends since 1993 and also looked at changes in sales from 2007 to 2012. They found that U.S. electricity sales peaked in 2007, but have been declining modestly ever since. The report says that electricity sales in 2012 were 1.9% lower than sales in 2007 and that sales in 2013 were lower than in 2012. Their conclusion was that energy efficiency programs, warmer weather, changes in GDP and, changes in electricity rates were the most significant reasons You can read a blog on the topic at http://aceee.org/blog/2014/02/us-electricity-use-declining-and-ener or a white paper at: http://aceee.org/white-paper/low-electricity-growth