Transistors.
An European research project called Steeper is aiming to make gadgets 10 times more energy efficient when in use, and (almost) completely eliminate their idle energy consumption. The way they’re trying to achieve that is by producing more efficient transistors, using nanotech.
Steeper is being co-ordinated by the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and gets its name from the novel transistors it is focussing on.
Steep slope transistors get their name because of the abrupt change they exhibit when switching between on and off states. If the research teams succeed in their aim of making such devices they would use far less power than existing transistor designs which typically leak energy even when supposedly turned off.
This kind of news is always exciting and welcome, but I suspect it’s going to take another decade for it to actually (maybe) materialize. So don’t get your hopes up just yet.
