The ZigBee Alliance on Monday it is developing the ZigBee Green Power feature set that would allow for the development of self-powered, energy-harvesting electronics devices. With 300 members from across the world, ZigBee says the new technology standard will be compatible with existing ZiGbee and ZigBee PRO networks. It will allow for the creation of new, maintenance-free products that do not require wires and batteries.

Current ZigBee devices have ultra low-power requirements, and are able to run on regular batteries for years. ZigBee envisions itself as the exclusive technology supplier of switches, sensors and controllers that use harvested energy in residential, commercial and industrial environments.

The ZigBee devices on the market today are able to use IEEE 802.15.4 standard radios available from numerous suppliers, can communicate over the global-standard 2.4GHz band, can avoid interference and cover the full range of a network. ZigBee also has a comprehensive security suite, offers independent certification of its products and sports an open standard.

The ZigBee Green Power standard will be released to the Alliance members before the end of 2009.