A review on energy harvesting technologies: Comparison between non-conventional and conceptual approaches
Kapil Bhatt, Sanjay Kumar, Sandeep Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Vedant Singh
Abstract
Due to technological advancement day by day, the world’s demand for energy has been increasing, especially in emerging economies. This is further complicated by the fact that the population keeps growing. Energy efficiency remains a priority for all countries, but it has not been achieved yet. Technological advancements have led to the development of various energy harvesting systems from recognized non-conventional sources such as solar, wind, thermal, hydro, piezoelectricity, electromagnetic generators, and bio-batteries, among others, and from developing conceptual approaches like rectenna technology. The objective of this research is to provide an extensive appraisal and comparative study of these technologies by assessing their sources, availability of energy, conversion mechanism used, infrastructure requirements, costs incurred during production, as well as output rates and areas where applications are made; overall energy efficiency, harvesting potential, limitations, sources’ characteristics, and commercial viability. The researchers hope that by creating a clear comparison, they will help readers understand what these technologies can do best while at the same time pointing out their difficulties in making real applications to global power needs today and tomorrow, which are being addressed by both established and envisaged non-conventional energies.