Startups and large companies all over the world are searching for solutions to make your life easier but also to help you save energy and money. It is no longer necessary to invest in large and expensive products or installations in order to do so! You can control your consumption, for instance, with an energy monitor which can be purchased on the Powertime store, or you can use new and innovative but affordable products which help achieve smarter energy consumption. Powertime presents you two of these solutions:
1] Philip’s Easy-to-install Smarthome lighting
Philips has created the easiest-to-install smarthome lighting kit at a very affordable price. Indeed, for $40 (around R 530) you have a Hue bulb and a dimming remote to control it. The remote can support up to 10 smart LEDs connected at the same time by using the ZigBee radio protocol to control them in tandem.
In addition to help you lower your electricity consumption, Philips’ controlling system can be used not only as a mobile remote but also as a standard light switch that you won’t even have to connect to your electrical system! Indeed the flat shape of the remote allows you to just place the remote on your wall as if it was a normal light switch, making it possible for you to avoid a long and expensive installation with an electrician.
Finally to have the kit working you do not need any other item or software, as was the case with the previous Philips’ smart consumption products which operated only with the Hue Bridge—which is basically a router that you could only acquire by purchasing a starter pack for around $200.
So Philips managed to create an easy-to-install and easy-to-use smarthome lighting dimming kit that helps you lower your electricity consumption for an affordable price. If such innovations keep being created for an even cheaper prices, smarthome lighting solutions are going to be the new standard in every household.
2] A customer-friendly water-saving shower head
The Californian startup Nebia created a new type of shower head. Though a lot of people are willing to save water for the environment and for their bill, reducing the water stream when you take a shower is not an easy thing to do; on the contrary everyone is usually trying to increase the flow. But Nebia has found the solution: the shower head kind of atomizes the water in billions of small drops that wets the entire body in less than 30 seconds. This new way of dispersing the water in the shower manages to save up to 70% of the water usually consumed, but it also provides a better consumer experience. Indeed these billions of small drops feel more soothing and are better for the skin.
So the startup succeeded in making people really want to save water. They managed to raise $2 million on Kickstarter for the head shower project, attracting investors such as Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. Their next challenges consists of creating other water-saving products for the house, based on the same idea that the customer experience has to be the priority even for eco-friendly products, but also in lowering the production costs because the price for the shower head is currently $399.