Would you like to help reduce your household energy consumption and get paid for doing so?
Every Friday I share one of my favourite finds of the week — a website, tool or an app that has impressed me.
My Friday Favourite this week is Equiwatt – Energy Saving That Pays.
What is it?
Equiwatt is an app that pays you for turning off home appliances at peak times of national energy usage.
How much does EquiWatt cost?
Equiwatt is free to use.
Equiwatt Smart Energy Saving
Equiwatt is a Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK based business that provides an app to help reduce energy consumption by using smart technology to automatically turn appliances off.
During peak-times of energy consumption (think half-time during a televised football match, or the advertisement break in Coronation Street) the National Grid faces a surge in demand for electricity.
To meet this demand, additional (and typically, old-fashioned coal burning) power stations are fired up to provide this electricity. This is expensive and dirty for the environment.
Equiwatt gets paid by energy companies for reducing this peak-time demand.
The way Equiwatt do this is by building a community of people who use their app.
Once you are registered on the app, the app can connect to a Smart Plug (the TP-Link Smart Plug – HS110, which retails at £19.99) which you then connect to a household appliance.
During peak-time energy usage, the app will turn off those appliances, reducing your energy consumption.
You are rewarded for these “equivents” of up to-60 minutes in Amazon gift vouchers.
The type of appliances you can use Equiwatt with include:-
- Fridges and Freezers – switched on 24/7, food is safe for up to 3 hours in a fridge or freezer without power.
- Tumble Dryers and Washing Machines
- Electric Vehicles, Battery Chargers or HeatPumps
Here’s Equiwatt CEO and founder Johnson Fernandes talking about Equiwatt, courtesy of the North-East Business and Innovation Centre.
I’ve written before about How to be a Green Technology Geek and as somebody who is passionate about tech and the ability to reduce our environmental impact, I love the idea behind this tech.
We’ve had an HS110 smart plug attached to our freezer, and have been rewarded for multi equivents. We’ve literally not noticed these happening, and our food has been absolutely fine (how often do you open the freezer door?).
How can I get it?
Visit the Equiwatt homepage and register for a free account.
You can download the Equiwatt app for Android and iOS.
You might also follow @EquiwattUK on Twitter, Equiwatt Ltd on LinkedIn or visit the Equiwatt Facebook page.
Thanks to Paul Lancaster for introducing me to Equiwatt at Newcastle Startup Week.
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Richard Tubb is one of the best-known experts within the global IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) community. He launched and sold his own MSP business before creating a leading MSP media and consultancy practice. Richard helps IT business owner’s take back control by freeing up their time and building a business that can run without them. He’s the author of the book “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and writer of the award-winning blog www.tubblog.co.uk
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