When we started this column seven months ago, I posed the question: What is “green,” anyway? I’d hoped the answer would come from a variety of sources talking about green, low power, energy efficiency, and related ideas. To test whether Green really is as Deep as I think it is in embedded, I’m taking a look back this month.

I’ve combed through recent material available right now in our print, E-letter, white paper, and broadcast archives to see how many experts are bringing up green themes. The answer is “lots” – the ideas are varied, the viewpoints are interesting, and the affirmation of this concept’s importance to our industry is exciting. Here’s a sample of what I see scanning our websites.

In our print publications and E-letters, you’ll find these articles:

·    Altera discussing design separation and energy-efficient motor control

·    Emerson Climate Technologies talking about ZigBee enabling the smart grid

·    GreenPeak Technologies illustrating energy sources for ultra-low-power wireless sensor networks

·    Virtual Extension examining flooding-based mesh wireless sensor network approaches

·    Akros Silicon showing off new Power over Ethernet chips with integrated digital isolation

·    Actel covering design techniques for FPGA power optimization

·    Octasic presenting ideas on power versus performance in DSPs

In our white papers database (if you haven’t registered, you’ll be asked for information once), a quick glance pulls up these features:

·    Intel showing a vision of industrial control in a greener world and Windows Embedded CE 6.0 on an Atom processor

·    Texas Instruments proposing how to take energy efficiency to the next level

·    Mentor Graphics analyzing power management for portable consumer electronics devices

·    VirtualMetrix talking about software to manage all processor performance resources

·    Microchip Technology exploring MCUs with nanoWatt XLP technology

In our E-cast archives (registration gets you archived slides and moderator/guest audio including Q&As), a search for green-related themes brings up these presentations:

·    MontaVista Software and Intel showing how Moblin technology and the Atom processor create a fast boot, energy-managed environment for longer battery life in all kinds of mobile devices beyond just phones

·    Freescale Semiconductor explaining how digital signal controllers can improve the efficiency of solar inverters

·    Mentor Graphics and Synopsys discussing Green ideas that will help you make greener, lower-power, more energy-efficient embedded computing products.

Editor’s note: Lead image courtesy of NASA and the European Space Agency