An innovation hotbed

It’s a fact that, as the world’s population increases, so does demand for energy to power heating/cooling systems, lighting and electrical appliances. Most industrialised nations recognise the need to conserve energy and it costs a great deal of money not only to build new power generating facilities, but also to deliver this power to users once it is generated. However, it has been observed that it is more cost effective to cut the energy consumption of most electrical appliances by 15% to 20% than it is to build new power facilities. So to satisfy environmental ‘green’ legislations, efficiency has been high on system designer’s agenda in selecting the right power supply specification. At the same time, power supply manufacturers have struggled to wring the last drops of efficiency from their designs. Clearly, the drive to improve efficiency as cost effectively as possible has become an enabler and manufacturers have been proactively developing a broad range of complementary techniques to achieve efficiencies that continue to push the boundaries.