Element 4

By 2025 there will be 30.9 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices in the market. With an average battery life of 3 years, this means that over 3.5 million batteries will need to be replaced every single day for IoT devices. Furthermore, producing these batteries will waste 6.6 billion gallons of water and 18.7 million tons of greenhouse gasses2,3. Element 4 envisions a different future of IoT devices, one that does not rely on batteries. We envision a greener world in which data-informed decision making is an integrated part of industry. Our purpose is to improve industry data collection through energy-harvesting and sustainable technology.

To do this, Element 4 has developed a self-powered IoT device that operates without batteries. The Element 4 sensor, E4, will harvest energy from four sources: solar, thermoelectric, piezoelectric, and radiofrequency. This novel combination of energy harvesting techniques will be used on demand to charge ultracapacitors, which have a much longer lifespan and are less environmentally harmful than lithium ion batteries. The E4 core technology is not only entirely self-powered, but it also contains an onboard sensor suite to act as both an environmental monitor and asset tracker. What’s more, the E4 core is modular such that additional sensors can be added to function as an app store for sensors. Importantly, the goal for the E4 device is to cost under $100 per device (plus monthly software subscriptions fees), with the anticipation that hundreds of thousands of devices can be deployed in the environment. With such massive amounts of spatiotemporal data being remotely and continuously monitored, the Element 4 platform will integrate and analyze this data in a user-friendly interface.

To increase time to market, Element 4 has developed an industry-specific version of the E4 device. This first device is called E1 and will use solar power as its sole energy source. To complement the environmental monitoring nature of this device, the first modular sensor being developed is a soil sensor. We are currently working with our first strategic partners, a landscaping company and a smart farm, to deploy 100 beta devices and soil sensors this summer. Research and development of the additional energy harvesting technologies for the E4 device will continue as the E1 device is deployed in the market, making revenue and garnering valuable feedback.