Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Water use

Electrimetric is about quantifying our resource and energy consumption and using that knowledge to direct our choices for more efficient use of those resources and reduction in energy consumption. The name may imply electricity, but water is a key resource and likely to be "the next oil" as it becomes increasingly scarce.

A product design I saw on inhabitat (a great architecture and design blog that focuses on green and pre fab) is a meter for faucets to see how much water is being used. The theory goes that if are reminded as to how much you are using you will use less. It seems to just be a design/prototype right now but I think it would be great if it becomes a real product.

http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/05/08/isave-faucets-monitor-water-use/

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

nfosthetics notes a idea to project how much energy a city is using on the plume of a coal power plant for all to see.

Electrimetric was created with the idea that if we know how much energy we use, and see feedback based on changes, we will reduce our resource consumption. The question is would this help because it reminds people how much energy they are using? or hurt because they see turning off their light is just a cigarette amongst the coal power plants pollution.

It seems like you could do this via a web page reporting how much energy your city is using, and I'm sure there are things like this out there.