In our series of interviews with the speakers of TEDxAmsterdam 2009 we catch up with them and find out what has happened since last year. Gernout Erens launched his company’s design product Wattcher, tracking your entire home energy use and stimulating a reduction in energy waste of up to 15 percent. The secret? Wattcher brings energy to life.
The story starts back in 2000 when Gernout (try ‘Jerry’ if you don’t speak Dutch) brainstorms with a group of peers, all former technical students, to bring more good to the world with their knowledge, skills and experience. Four of them decide to start Innovaders and focus on sustainable product development that touches both ‘soft’ concepts as like culture, feelings and change, and ‘hard’ business proposals. During the ensuring decade, they swayed from solely advising other companies to producing their own products. The Wattcher by far takes most of Gernout’s time: “We actually launched just before TEDxAmsterdam 2009 took place. After years of thinking and developing finally the actual product was there. That is pretty weird, I can tell you. Instead of something that exists in your head, all of a sudden it’s real. Then you are dealing with a market out there and have to start doing logistics, marketing and business deals. We drew a lot of attention thanks to the publicity from TEDxAmsterdam and recently hired somebody who knows more about marketing and sales than we all do.”
In a year’s time, the number of Wattcher users has doubled to over 12,000 unique participants, each tracking their household’s energy usage. Buyers usually already have some feel for sustainability, were thinking about energy saving and mostly have children. How does Gernout explain this success? “We receive very positive, yet varying feedback from our users. We have learned that Wattcher brings something highly individual into someone’s house. Everyone has unique experiences with the product. That’s great, as Marcel Wanders designed it to become a new ‘heart of the home’ with slowly increasing lights instead of cold numbers, for instance.” If you have a Wattcher in your living room, it shows visual effects relating to the acceleration and total amount of current energy use. So when you start boiling water it will light up faster and brighter compared to roasting a chicken in the oven. “We were aiming for emotions that would lead to genuine interaction between the product and its users. Marcel’s design is perfect as it precisely struck chord with our vision. We hardly altered his first prototype!”
Gernout enthusiastically tells me how he believes energy is beautiful. What could be more beautiful than thousands of people visualizing their energy use and just because of their raised awareness create a 15 percent energy saving? Expansion, Gernout says, is the next step. “We’re negotiating with more and more stores to sell the Wattcher, both in The Netherlands and in Germany. We soon expect the production costs to drop so we will reach the masses. I’m completely focused on the market!”
Do you want a Wattcher for yourself?
Currently the Wattcher shop sells for € 99,- right here.
If your energy comes via Eneco you can order it for only € 89,- right here.
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Flickr