There are several factors to be considered with respect to energy and design.

Efficient energy use is an important consideration for designers in today’s society. Energy conservation and efficient energy use are pivotal in our impact on the environment. A designer’s goal is to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products or services using newer technologies or creative implementation of systems to reduce usage. For example, driving less is an example of energy conservation, while driving the same amount but with a higher mileage car is energy efficient.

• Embodied energy

• Distributing energy: national and international grid systems

• Local combined heat and power (CHP)

• Systems for individual energy generation

• Quantification and mitigation of carbon emissions

• Batteries, capacitors and capacities considering relative cost, efficiency, environmental impact and reliability

• Total energy consumed in production (cradle to [factory] gate) and throughout the lifecycle of a product (cradle to grave)

• Batteries are limited to hydrogen fuel cells, lithium, NiCad, lead acid, and LiPo batteries

As a designer you need to understand that as we develop new electronic products, electrical energy power sources remain an ever-important issue. The ability to concentrate electrical energy into ever-decreasing volume and weight is the challenge for designers of electronic products.