ZigBee Alliance Debuts Battery-Free Option with New Green Power Feature

Product manufacturers gain a new choice for wirelessly networking energy harvesting devices

SAN RAMON, Calif. – Dec. 19, 2012 – The ZigBee® Alliance, a global ecosystem of companies creating wireless solutions for use in energy management, commercial and consumer applications, today announced the most eco-friendly way to power ZigBee products via its new Green Power feature. Products, including switches and dimmers, can now be easily powered with available energy harvesting sources rather than using a battery or AC mains power, creating a no-maintenance, environmentally friendly solution. A free public webinar on Green Power is scheduled for January 24.

Green Power is an optional feature for the ZigBee PRO feature set that is part of the enhanced ZigBee 2012 specification recently ratified and released to Alliance members. It significantly expands the capabilities of ZigBee PRO, further strengthening its leadership position as the global standard for wireless sensor and control networks and the Internet of Things. With ZigBee PRO Green Power products, consumers and businesses can add ZigBee devices to many more areas including locations where power is unavailable, not allowed for safety reasons or for historical preservation purposes. Product manufacturers can implement ZigBee into more products with confidence, knowing ZigBee is backed by a thriving, innovative and competitive ecosystem.

“The use of energy harvesting in commercial building automation, for example, can reduce operating costs while helping organizations to demonstrate ‘green’ credentials”, said Lisa Arrowsmith, manager of connectivity research for IHS. “Additionally, with over 35 million ZigBee-enabled ‘smart home’ and home automation devices that are not line-powered projected to be shipped by 2017, the ZigBee PRO Green Power feature also presents a compelling option in the residential space.”

As a part of the extensive Alliance test and certification plan development process, it selected golden unit development kits from GreenPeak Technologies, Philips, Schneider Electric and Texas Instruments. These implementations will serve as golden units against which future ZigBee Certified products using the ZigBee 2012 specification will be tested. This testing process ensures compliance with the standard so that manufacturers can be assured of consistent communications. Testing services were provided by NTS, TRaC and TÜV Rheinland.

“The Green Power feature for ZigBee PRO will allow development of the most eco-friendly products possible,” said Bob Heile, chairman of the ZigBee Alliance. “This smart new feature continues ZigBee leadership in low power networking by enabling no maintenance power source alternatives to be easily used in ZigBee Building Automation products”

Products using Green Power will be eligible to wear the ZigBee Certified™ product logo.

ZigBee uses self-organizing and self-healing mesh networking to enable robust communications over the globally available 2.4 GHz frequency and over 868/915 MHz technology in select countries. Only ZigBee offers superb interference immunity and the ability to host thousands of devices on a single network. As a green technology with ultra-low power requirements, ZigBee gives devices the ability to be installed almost anywhere, eliminating maintenance concerns and maximizing installation flexibility, characteristics making it ideal for M2M and IoT applications. More information and a complete list of ZigBee 2012 specification features and benefits are available at: www.ZigBee.org/GreenPower.

Free Webinar and White Paper
The Alliance will host a free public webinar on January 24, 2013. “Introducing ZigBee PRO’s new eco-friendly Green Power feature” will be held at 08:00 am Pacific Time and feature speakers from the industry. Space is limited and advance registration is available at: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/498040911.

A new white paper, “New ZigBee PRO Feature: Green Power - Connecting Battery-Free Devices” is now available. The white paper outlines how the feature integrates energy harvesting devices with ZigBee networks, as well as the power requirements for the feature. This white paper can be found at: www.ZigBee.org/GreenPower.

ZigBee: Control your world
ZigBee offers green and global wireless standards connecting the widest range of devices to work together intelligently and help you control your world. The ZigBee Alliance is an open, non- profit association of approximately 400 members driving development of innovative, reliable and easy-to-use ZigBee standards. The Alliance promotes worldwide adoption of ZigBee as the leading wirelessly networked, sensing and control standard for use in consumer, commercial and industrial areas. For more information, visit: www.ZigBee.org.

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