What is Low Power Energy (LPE) ?
“Low Power Energy ” applies to the eco-design of any system. The aim is to consume only as much energy as is required for optimal operation.
The benefit for the product is to improve its lifecycle by extending its service life as far as possible, with minimal energy consumption throughout its entire life cycle.
How can we achieve ever greater energy efficiency?
By optimizing the design of electronic boards, we optimize products so that they are increasingly energy-efficient – both in terms of hardware and software. This performance becomes a formidable competitive advantage to guarantee a product’s success on the market.
Data exchange is another criterion to be considered when it comes to reducing product and server consumption. Optimizing the use of data by eco-designing the electronics of products is an important lever for reinforcing their autonomy.
Several scenarios are possible at this stage. It may be strategic to configure equipment so that there are:
- Fewer or compressed exchanges (by working on the data itself);
- Data exchanges strictly limited to essential situations
Energy efficiency: a new competitive advantage
On the one hand, European legislation* imposes a limit on the consumption of standby appliances connected to the mains. Secondly, product autonomy and consumption will be assessed. The labels and scores displayed will enable end-users to compare the energy performance levels of each appliance. These criteria also have an impact on maintenance cycles and parts replacement.
Energy Harvesting, thanks to the use of solar cells in particular, will also accentuate the energy sobriety of products – by making batteries, lithium batteries or other rare metals unnecessary – which can then be valorized in product scoring.
*Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/826 of 17 April 2023 laying down eco-design requirements for off mode, standby mode, and networked standby energy consumption of electrical and electronic household and office equipment pursuant to Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Commission Regulations (EC) No 1275/2008 and (EC) No 107/2009.
Our expertise in Low Power Energy and eco-design
🔎 #1 Our technology watch
The experts at Impulse, the LACROIX Design Center are constantly on the lookout for new products or new characteristics of electronic components on the market. This knowledge enables us to offer you the best components to extend the life of your products.
We’re also up to date with all the latest regulatory developments, depending on the different application sectors, systematically ensuring energy performance that exceeds imposed thresholds. Each time a new product version is developed, our teams compare the life cycle of the new generation designed against the previous generation.
👨💻 #2 Our advanced simulation software
To define usage scenarios quickly, cost-effectively, and efficiently, it’s best to avoid multiplying use cases in the field. That’s why we design a simulation model for each product or product family, saving time and improving accuracy, so you can choose the best design from an infinite number of possibilities, based on the different scenarios you’ve established. Depending on strategic priorities, we accurately estimate the product’s energy requirements, enabling us to propose efficient alternatives with equivalent services.
We select the most efficient components for you: those capable of meeting your needs while consuming less energy. While the investment may sometimes be higher, it is quickly offset by the gains in energy consumption and market score, to differentiate and enhance the value of your product from the competition.
💡 #3 Defining the most efficient usage behaviors
In the past, products were designed to remain permanently active. Today, the ability to design products that support several states of operation according to use is essential to reinforce the sobriety of appliances.
This is achieved by creating very precise transitions between deep sleep, standby and active modes. The precision of these sequences and usage scenarios in the design of your software can lead to significant energy savings.
For example, a product may incorporate the same component as another and yet consume ten times as much energy. This is due to a series of technical choices, both in terms of hardware selection and software sequencing: software that is constantly active, or insufficiently precise sequencing from one state to another, will have highly visible consequences.
By the end of 2024, all projects carried out by LACROIX Impulse teams will be subject to a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) covering a dozen indicators, to evaluate the energy efficiency of your products resulting from the eco-design initiatives undertaken.
Contact our experts
To improve your product’s energy performance, choosing the most energy-efficient components is not enough. By enlisting the expert skills of our team, you can enhance the autonomy and considerably reduce the power consumption of your product, thanks to optimized hardware and software design.