In the history textbooks of the future, the 2010s may well be labeled as the Golden Age of energy conservation: the ethos of environmentally-friendly living has already been adopted by all the leading figures in society, but there still remains glory to be had for inventors and activists tackling seemingly insurmountable problems.
The year 2015, which introduced Tesla’s home-battery for solar energy, blade-less wind turbines, and Tesla again with its announcement of an electric car affordable for the average consumers, will be seen as a vintage year for energy conservation. But in technological innovation as well as in warfare, there are battles of annihilation, and there are skirmishes.
MIITO, the company that has started a Kickstarter for its “kettle” rod, belongs in the latter category. The concept for the device is simple: by heating up beverages such as tea with an immersion heater instead of a kettle, the consumer can save electricity in the process by not having to heat extra water.
“One day of extra energy use [from overfilling electric kettles] is enough to light all the streetlights in England for a night,” Leyla Acaroglu said in her 2014 TED talk. MIITO said that this quote was the inspiration behind the kettle rod project.
Immersion heaters are already an established product, but the available models are clunky and inconvenient: to heat your beverage, you have to plug the device into a power outlet and dangle the rod into your coffee mug.
MIITO is a step forward in both substance and style over previous immersion heaters. It uses induction heating instead of electric heating, where the self-standing rod gets its heat from the induction base below. Because the rod stands on itself, it’s much more convenient to use than conventional immersion heaters.
MIITO has already raised more than $360,000, double its $170,000 goal, but if you want to help save the world and get exclusive updates about the development of the kettle rod, there’s still 22 days left to donate 5 euros or more.
