Econa: Water Saving Device Wins EcoDesign Award
by Jenna Watson, Barcelona 
on 11.27.08
ECONA, not to be confused with the Econo or the ECO Showerdrop, is a water-saving device that could change the way you view (literally!) your water consumption at home. This gadget won the Concurso Nuevo Diseño 2008 (New Design Competition) in the ecodesign category. The logo for the Competition, which also has interior design, furniture, and urban environment categories can be seen to your left.
Designed by Clara Descals (Valencia) and Emma Laurin (Sweden), the touch panel receives, stores and manages information about household water consumption. It then displays the info about the house, via the water-droplet shaped units, that warn you if you are using too much of that clear gold and how much you should be using.
Images and more details about the Econa after the jump.
The objective of this bluetooth-information-transferring device is to make we consumers more conscious of our water use at home. Its visual and graphic design is intended for ease of understanding by our little water consumers. The main control unit also has programmable software and a USB port that allows you to upload the information to your computer.
Econa Control Panel.
Econa's Dewdrop Shaped Units for Around the House.
Descals and Laurin both work at Acierta and we saw the announcement in one of the Spanish magazines - Living Deco that sponsored the award for designers and architects under 35. Unfortunately there are no other images available except for those found in the magazine, so we apologize for the not-as-high-as-usual quality and suggest you look at the supplement yourself, although it is only available in Spanish.
Via: Living Deco. Image credits: Living Deco.
More on Water Conservation and Similar Gadgets:
Water: Saving the Planet One Drop at a Time
How to Go Green: In the Bathroom
Middle School Student Invents Ingenious Water Saving Device
ECO Showerdrop Times and Measures Your Showering
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Apart from the fact that the thing is both obtrusive and outright ugly, I have to wonder how much energy went into it's manufacture and how much into it's operation.
You simply do not need a gadget like this to reduce your water use, and if you are metered by a public utility, the bill will give you that information every billing period.
Cool. This is just like the instant mpg reading in my hybrid car. I think they should design these user-friendly gadgets for electricity, too!
Yet another absolutely unnecessary gadget that serves no purpose whatsoever that can't be accomplished with common sense and a little caution.
Who ever thinks that this gadget is a very useful device, needs to go and get his head examined for leaks. and you also need to stop telling yourself that you need a stupid beeper to tell you that you've left the tap on while shaving, and you'll have to shut it off...
An alternative for morons who'll inevitably go around spouting "old habits die hard" BS, get that NASA urine to drinking water unit. then you could leave the tap on as long as you like..
@ wandering
good point - but I don't understand why everybody thinks that bringing down energy use/ waste generated for production will start at the beginning.. green has to start somewhere, and the way we do things now, It's next to impossible to have a perfectly green product... If you look at energy used, don't use things like toothpaste, toilet paper, think of all that waste water and energy being used in creating it, and ultimately destroying it...
going green will happen over time and it will happen across the board, not from 1 specific product alone...
Hi,
Gracias por vuestros consejos, soy una de las chicas que lo hizo. Al primer comentario, te digo.. para gustos colores...
Sobre que la gente sabe lo que consume.. ¿tu sabes cuanto debes gastar cuando te duchas? ¿ cuando te lavas los dientes? ¿Crees que tus hijos lo saben? ¿O tus padres?... Queremos que todo el mundo sea conciente de ello, YO LO SOY! Cuando vas a un hotel, ¿piensas que estas gastando mucha agua o pasas porque tu no pagas la factura??
Mas conciencia es la que necesitamos, y si es necesario mostrar la informacion constantemente pues se muestra.
De todas formas, hay que aceptar todo tipo de comentarios... Yo seguire intentando crear, al menos, mi mundo mejor...
FInalmente hay un dispositivo para saber tu consumo electrico...www.efergy.com.. ENJOY IT!!
clara