Engineers frequently wrestle with ominous-sounding challenges that have bigger effects on the planet — and your wallet — than you might think: thermal runaway, electromagnetic interference, and dielectric breakdown. The ones working at Goleta startup Cenfire, meanwhile, are taking aim at a problem that sounds straight-up spooky: “vampire currents.”
Vampire currents are the small but constant trickles of electricity that leak from plugged-in devices, even when they’re powered off — and they add up. Globally, an estimated 13,140 terawatt-hours of electricity are wasted every year this way. That’s more than 1.5 times the annual energy use of the United States.
Cenfire, a spinout from Goleta-based MEMS foundry Atomica, says it has a solution: a tiny solid-state switch that all but eliminates these losses. CEO Seena Partokia describes the technology as “a high-efficiency valve for electricity” — a silicon-based alternative to traditional mechanical relays that’s smaller, faster, and longer-lasting.
