Energy harvesting is a term that now encompasses creating microwatts to megawatts of off-grid electricity using ambient energy such as heat, light, wind and waves. That means big business for those seeing the big picture.

Scouting the market for energy harvesting for almost 7 years now has allowed IDTechEx significant insight into the markets for the technologies, the potential applications and their prospects for growth.

High power energy harvesting (HPEH) is the clean part of off-grid renewable energy and its main potential lies at kilowatts to megawatts. Few things are genuinely new in this world but newly important aspects of energy harvesting really matter.

Thought leaders IDTechEx were among the first to identify three new megatrends in the world of technology: Structural Electronics (SE); 3D Printed Electronics (3DPE); Energy Independent Electric Vehicles (EIVs).

The most dramatic new advances and visions have no name initially. So it is with electric vehicles that need no external charging or refuelling - no, not even wireless charging.

Forget the obsession with driverless autonomous cars; energy independent vehicles are the megatrend. Electric land vehicles, boats, underwater craft and aircraft already exist that never plug in or refuel.

Perovoskite photovoltaics promises over 20% efficiency, low cost materials and even flexible, transparent and stretchable versions dearly needed for new applications. Record power to weight ratio is needed for the electric vehicle end game, the land vehicles, boats and aircraft described in the IDTechEx report, Energy Independent Vehicles 2016-2026.

High Power Energy Harvesting (HPEH) is a term beginning to be used for creation of electricity where it is needed using ambient "free" energy. That zero-pollution, high-energy conversion typically captures light (photovoltaics), heat difference (thermoelectrics and heat pumps) and movement (electrodynamics).

Thermoelectric energy harvesting is no longer the Cinderella of energy harvesting - a subject previously dominated by photovoltaics and electrodynamics such as the bicycle dynamo and the electric vehicle's regenerative braking.

IDTechEx Research's brand new report analyses and forecasts the wireless charging market for electric vehicles and small electronics.

Energy harvesting spans microwatts to megawatts because it is the creation of electricity where it is needed using wind, sun, movement, heat difference, friction and other ambient energy.

A trillion dollar opportunity to 2035, electric buses are being completely reinvented because they are the electric vehicle sector already attracting billion dollar orders and they can prevent millions of deaths and injuries from air pollution.

It seems obvious; energy harvesting is intermittent, so combine different types to make it continuous and therefore much more useful.

Plenty of kilowatts from no fuel. This dream ticket is a reality today from the rapid adoption of high power energy harvesting. Energy harvesting converts ambient energy into electricity where it is needed, off-grid.

The term 'energy harvesting' is most typically applied to powering small electronic devices using say sunshine, vibration or temperature.

Analysts IDTechEx almost completely rewrote their report Power Electronics for Electric Vehicles 2015-2025 this year and frequent updates take place, such is the pace of change.

Elastic piezoelectric generators are being developed with microwatts demonstrated and watts in prospect for large formats.

Energy harvesting is the creation of off-grid electricity where it is needed using ambient energy, from sunshine to vibration or temperature difference.

Each week we come across brilliant new technologies from companies and research institutes and we want to help such enterprises showcase their products to the audiences of our events - which are typically the largest in the world on the topic.

High Power Energy Harvesting: Off-Grid 10W-100kW 2016-2026 is the title of a new IDTechEx report examining a newly significant off-grid energy market.