Energy Harvesting Mechanisms in a Smart City—A Review

• Published in: Smart cities (Basel) 2021-06, Vol.4 (2), p.476-498
• Main Authors: Akin-Ponnle, Ajibike Eunice, Carvalho, Nuno Borges
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Automation; COVID-19; COVID-19 pandemic; Disease control; Electronic devices; Energy harvesting; Energy resources; Internet of Things; IoT; Nodes; Optimization; Pandemics; Radio frequency identification; Sensors; Smart cities; smart city; Wireless networks; Wireless sensor networks; WSNs
• ISSN: 2624-6511; 2624-6511
• DOI: 10.3390/smartcities4020025

The issue of how to power the deployed Internet of Things (IoT) nodes with ubiquitous and long lasting energy in order to ensure uninterruptible optimisation of smart cities is of utmost concern. This among other challenges has continued to gear efforts toward energy harvesting research. With the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown that nearly paralysed activities of everyday living in many nations of the world, option of human remote interaction to enforce social distancing became imperative. Hence, the world is witnessing a renewed awareness of the importance of IoT devices, as integral components of smart city, especially for the essence of survival in the face of lockdown. Energy harvesting is a possible solution that could enable IoT nodes to scavenge self-sustaining energy from environmental ambient sources. In this paper, we have reviewed most sources within city that energy could be harvested from, as reported by researchers in literature. In addition, we have submitted that energy sources can be application specific, such that, since there are many free sources in the city as presented in this review, energy should be scavenged within close proximity of need for various IoT devices or wireless sensor networks (WSNs), for smart city automation.