Juan Mauricio Covarrubias
Jessica Esnariaga
Miguel Angel Duverge
Javier Diaz Machin
EGADE Business School Tecnologico de Monterrey
Ezequiel Reficco
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The device reads and senses the water temperature. While the water is below the desired level, the device will place it in a tank. When the right temperature is reached, it will let us know through a light and sound, so we can start enjoying warm water. Besides that, the device will allow you to mix the hot and cold water to obtain a certain comfort point with the water previously saved avoiding recirculations and lowering the energy comsumption.
Rafael Rodrigo and Francisco Pelegero worked together in a plumber company. One day they realized the amount of water that is actually wasted in our bathrooms before the water gets warm. That was the trigger to a challenging process of innovation.
Together, they agreed to design a device to save water and energy in homes and businesses, which they patented in 2011 and later they put it on the market. With this invention, they aimed to improve energy efficiency by eliminating the continuous forced recirculation of the facilities. They also improve the efficiency of heaters and boilers avoiding a large consumption of energy, which becomes a reduction of C02 emissions. Finally, they improve the sustainability of the system by helping to optimize the consumption of water in the facilities by saving large amounts of it.
Spain is suffering a severe situation of drought. Climate change and the increase in population have been aggravating this scenario. When we are about to take a shower, or do any activity with hot water, while we wait until the water warms, we waste between 8 and 15 liters and because we have done it all our lives, we see it as normal. And this is not only a waste of water itself, it is a waste of energy, time, and CO2 among others.
Water Saving:
• Smartwater allows to save up to 15.000 liters of water per person per year, over 76 Kwh and over 27 kilograms of CO2. These values are increased over 35% for professional installations at hair salons, gyms, hotels, etc.
• Smartwater is able to save 50% of water in an installation that uses warm water, 20% of energy and 30% of CO2 emission compared to a traditional installation.
Monetary Savings:
• By using this equipment, a regular 4 member’s family will save around 500 Euros in water bills and around 4500 in a hotel.
Energy and CO2 Savings
• The energy savings in a regular house is around 33.8% (according to a report form Universidad Politecnica de Valencia)
As Smartwater innovation is in its early stages, it needs some time to achieve its initial success. But the company has already managed to sell several hundreds of units in Spain and started also operations in California (USA). The sales prices of the devices is around 750 euros and the return of the investment for a familiar house is around 2 years (based on the cost of water in Spain) for business as hair salons, the amortization date may be reduced down to six months.
So far, total investment in Smartwater has been 700.000 euros. The equipment’s are manufactured in Canals and they created a Company to do the commercial part called IDI. They have sold 700 units and they are planning to sell 1000 in 2018 and 10,000 in 2019 (this is going to happen by the implementation of an expansion plan in the US and Latin America.
Smart Water is an intelligent device that helps save water and energy inside homes, hotels, commercial establishments, among other sectors. The water that we waste when waiting for the adequate temperature "potable and useful, happens to become fecal once in the sewer", because of this it must be decontaminated without having been taken advantage of.
The energy saving is due to two factors: the pressure differences that reduce the flow rates and therefore the cost of hot water and the lower use of the heater, which does not need to work that long. In addition, the device does not have any electricity consumption for the house, since it does its work with four standard AA batteries with which it can work for two years.
Some of the most favored sectors with the use of this device are home, hotels, and beauty salons among others. The annual savings will fluctuate between 500 and 455 euros per year. In addition to this the CO2 emissions and the use of energy are reduced 33.8% by using Smartwater .
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This company created a special device that saves water, energy, CO2 emissions, money and helps to improve the comfort of the house. Rather than throwing away water before it gets warm, this device helps to reuse the non-used water. The sectors that would benefit most from the use of this would-be restaurants, hairdressers, hotels and bath shops.