Energy in buildings: Equipment and suppliers
Coils, magnets and silicon inside everyday home machines
What this tab covers For each method, the main pieces of equipment, who makes them (by region) and what they are made of (bill of materials).Most of these devices combine a converter (power electronics or a burner) with a load (coil, element, motor or battery). Copper, electrical steel, magnets, silicon and glass dominate the materials. Provider lists are left empty where no reliable ranking was found.
Induction hob
Induction coil and inverter board15Drives a high-frequency current in a flat copper coil under the glass (the firms listed are the largest appliance makers, all of which sell hobs)
Europe BSH (Bosch, Siemens), Electrolux China Midea, Haier United States Whirlpool Japan and Korea LG ElectronicsBill of materials
- Coil: Litz copper wire with ferrite bars underneath
- Power stage: IGBT transistors and resonant capacitors
- Top: Glass-ceramic plate
Solar water heater
Collector and storage tank2Absorbs sunlight and stores hot water
Bill of materials
- Absorber: Copper or aluminium fins with selective coating (flat plate) or coated borosilicate glass tubes (evacuated tube)
- Tank: Stainless steel with polyurethane foam insulation
Fans and pumps
BLDC ceiling fan motor and controller3Turns the blades using magnets and electronic commutation
Bill of materials
- Rotor: Ferrite or rare-earth permanent magnets
- Stator: Electrical steel with copper windings
- Controller: Microcontroller and MOSFET driver board
Move water through buildings
Bill of materials
- Impeller and casing: Cast iron, stainless steel or engineering plastic
- Motor: Electrical steel and copper, often permanent-magnet in efficient models
Rooftop solar
Solar inverter91314Converts panel DC to grid AC and finds the maximum power point
China Huawei, Sungrow, Ginlong Solis, Growatt, Sineng Europe SMA SolarBill of materials
- Power switches: Silicon IGBTs or MOSFETs, increasingly silicon carbide
- Magnetics and capacitors: Ferrite inductors, film and electrolytic capacitors
- Enclosure and heatsink: Aluminium
Turns sunlight into DC electricity
China Jinko Solar, LONGi, Trina Solar, JA Solar, TongweiBill of materials
- Cells: Crystalline silicon with silver contacts
- Front: Tempered glass, the heaviest part
- Frame: Aluminium
Home inverter/UPS
Inverter unit and battery7Charges the battery from mains and inverts DC to AC during outages
Bill of materials
- Battery: Tubular lead-acid plates: lead alloys and sulphuric acid
- Transformer: Low-frequency electrical steel core with copper or aluminium windings (high-frequency designs use small ferrite cores)
- Switches: MOSFETs on a control board
Phones and laptops
Charger (external power supply)8Converts mains AC to regulated low-voltage DC
Bill of materials
- Switch: Silicon or gallium nitride transistor
- Transformer: Small ferrite-core transformer
- Controller: USB Power Delivery chip
Sources
- FAQ: Solar water heating systems Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Management Centre, Government of NCT of Delhi, 2024
- EESL unveils 5 star rated ceiling fans with BLDC technology in India Energetica India, 2022
- An open letter: BEE, make inverter efficiency standards mandatory (Kunwer Sachdev, founder of Su-Kam; advocacy, not independent data) kunwersachdev.com (personal blog), 2026
- Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/1782, Annex II: Ecodesign requirements for external power supplies legislation.gov.uk (retained EU law text), 2019
- Global PV inverter shipments grew by 10% in 2024 to 589 GWac Wood Mackenzie, 2025
- InfoLink 2025 global module shipment ranking: combined shipments reach 536 GW InfoLink Consulting, 2026
- Top solar inverter shippers revealed (reporting the Wood Mackenzie 2024 top five) SolarQuotes, 2025
- SMA ranks among top three global solar inverter manufacturers, according to Wood Mackenzie (company press release) SMA America, 2026
- Leading household appliance manufacturers worldwide by revenue, 2023 Statista, 2024