TI innovations will help ensure every microwatt possible makes it from the wind into your home.

Imagine a world in which the most scrupulous person imaginable was always there to save you energy by turning off the lights or adjusting the temperature when no one was home.

Now put that guy into power-management chips distributed throughout the electronics universe, and you’ll get all the benefits of his diligence without any of the smugness.

Indeed one of the first devices TI produced at its newest, most advanced manufacturing facility was just that sort of chip that optimizes power usage inside a multitude of electronics.

Such chips are already found in cars, home appliances and mobile electronics, but their presence is only growing as TI and product manufacturers alike identify possibilities for ever greater efficiency – spreading far beyond the mobile devices where power management cut its teeth as a way to extend battery life.

TI makes some of the industry's most efficient power-management chips, enabling devices to use up to 96 percent of the energy that comes into them from batteries or power cords. The company makes products that are helping reduce the amount of electricity needed. There is a lot of room for innovation to more efficienty use electrical power. Existing approaches may look fairly primitive, though, as engineers step up the pace of power-management innovations.

• They’re moving from power supplies that are always turned on to those that are only on when needed – but are instantly revived upon demand.
• Despite all the progress to date, TI estimates that up to 15 percent additional savings in energy usage is possible among consumer electronics alone.
• Additional potential energy savings extend throughout the electrical grid. In each step along the way from a windmill farm to storage and distribution of power, for example, TI is developing innovative approaches to ensure every microwatt possible makes it from the wind to the outlets in your home.