We all like to take long showers and rightly so, they tend to relax us. Worried about something? Just get into the shower and let it soothe you. Also, there’s this known fact that we are able to think best when we are taking a shower. However, have you ever thought on how much energy and water we waste while we’re busy taking the shower? This is what our today’s article is about. Amphiro has come up with a real time energy consumption information gadget known as A-1. It is basically a self powered water and energy meter. The electricity required for it to work is generated when water passes through it.
This gadget is available only in Europe and during the first three months of its launch it has managed sales of 7,000 units. This cool gadget was basically the focus of a study carried by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy which is an offshoot of ETH Zurich. Study included about 700 Swiss households and resulted in average savings of 440kWh of heat energy and 8,500 liters of water per household per annum. Two new models are being launched pretty soon.
The original A-1 gadget needed flow of water for activation and it displayed water temperature, volume of water being used and a polar bear which was included as climate animation. The gadget would rate the shower (A+ – G-) once the shower was over and would display how much energy had been consumed. The device went to sleep mode for three minutes after which it would shut down or if the shower restarts, start logging data again.
The new model (A-1 Control) is able to convey more information which includes energy consumption being displayed in real time and also mentions the current shower duration. The climate animation has been changed with a bar that helps user compare the current shower with average value of the last ten showers. There is another model known as A-1 arctic which has been designed for families with kids. This gadget comes with a polar bear animation that starts on an iceberg and eventually drowns in the water. All this data can be accessed by the users on Amphiro’s free online portal where the gadget’s unique id can be entered to obtain access to user’s last 150 showers and compare these values with other households as well.
Amphiro A-1 Control and A-1 arctic is available for $65 pledge while the original A-1 is available for $79. This gadget combines technology with public awareness and is a great initiative. Check out the video of this gadget in action.
