Water saving gadget roundup

post from Shiny Shiny on 26 June 2006 03:41:00 PM. © Shiny Shiny

Given that hosepipe bans and water conservation are the way of the future, and summer is pressing down hot upon us, we're revisiting water conservation gadgets. Here's a really small and clever place to start: with the EcoKettle. I was lucky enough to get one from the lovely folks at Toastess and absolutely love it. Minimalist packaging, clean and easy design, pleasant to use. It's cordless, meaning it has a base that it sits in while boiling, but you can easily move the carafe around. The cord wraps nicely into the base so it isn't dangling about to trip over. The best part, though, is that it has two compartments: you fill one with up to 1.5 liters of water, and then press a button on top to release as much water into the second chamber as you'd like to boil. Only want one cup? Then only release one cup. Only that one cup gets boiled. Saves power and water. At £40 it's a bit expensive for how simple it is; I hope it takes off and hits mainstream so that all kettles end up being made this way. The technology is so simple that we could've had kettles like this 50 years ago - but sometimes the simplest, most elegant solution takes half a century to think of. Bravo, EcoKettle!

More ways to cope with the looming water crisis after the jump.