There’s a water crisis in California right now. And to help people use less water, one entrepreneur is working on a device that will make your showers much more efficient.
A crowdfunding campaign for the Eva Smart Shower launched on Indiegogo this week, and what entrepreneur Torrey Tayenaka wants to do is cut the amount of water that you would otherwise use in your shower by half. The technology is patent-pending, but the plan is to use money raised through pre-sales placed through the Indiegogo campaign to go into full production with the product, Tayenaka says.
If the production process goes smoothly, then the Eva Shower device, which is available for pre-sale on Indiegogo for $149 and thereafter for $199, will be installed between the wall and your shower head.
The Eva Smart Shower has sensors that will, according to a prototype design, monitor where a person is in the bathroom and adjust the water flow accordingly. For example, if you turn on the shower and the water reaches your ideal temperature, but you are not in the shower yet but still futzing around the bathroom, the Eva Smart Shower will shut the water flow off until you actually get in the shower. Also, the sensors aim to track where you are in the shower such that if you are not standing directly under the shower head, the water flow will ease.
An associated smartphone app will monitor your water use and if you want to set goal times for how long your showers should last, then the Eva Smart Shower system would alert you when you are dallying too long in the shower.
Santa Ana, Calif.-based Eva Smart Shower is the brainchild of a team of designers and product developers working to build the gizmo outside of their day jobs. “We have this awesome team all working together hustling on the side late nights and long weekends to make a product that we think can really make a huge difference in the way people view their water usage and waste as well as help people save tons of water every day,” said Tayenaka, in an email to Entrepreneur.com.
Outside of Eva, Tayenaka is the CEO and founder of a video advertising agency and was previously on the team that created Kite, a wearable mosquito repellent patch. He came up with the idea while using a sink in his office bathroom that is auto-activated.
A bit of caution is probably a good bet here. Crowdfunding campaigns launching without a working prototype have a risky track record.
by Catherine Clifford, via Entrepreneur