Low Power but High Energy: The Looming Costs of Billions of Smart Devices

Abstract

Individually, wall-powered Internet of Things devices are small: in form factor, in complexity, in function, and in power draw. However, at scale, and certainly at the scale optimistic forecasters project, these small devices add up to be a big energy problem. Just adding a single two watt sensor to each US building would add to more annual energy consumption than some small countries. Wall-powered IoT devices are also easier to create than their energy-constrained (i.e. battery-powered) counterparts, and marketed as more convenient (no hub required!), leading to their continued growth. Yet, unlike other energy consuming devices, there are no Energy Star (or equivalent) standards for smart devices. Despite having very infrequent active times, they draw power for functions like AC-DC conversion, wireless communication, and wakeup word detection continuously. Further, the discrete nature of devices and siloed nature of IoT ecosystems leads to significant redundancy in IoT devices. We posit that new techniques are needed to reverse this trend. This includes new techniques for auditing devices, systems that leverage existing devices rather than requiring new ones, and architectures that have less reliance on the cloud (and the energy overhead of network usage and cloud compute). The IoT is pitched to improve energy efficiency and reduce users' carbon footprints, but we need a new research agenda to ensure the devices themselves are not the next problem.