A Scottish housewife battling a life-threatening disease has invented a revolutionary energy-saving device that shows householders exactly how much gas, electricity and water they are consuming at any given time.

Tanya Ewing, 38, has been praised by the energy industry for creating the ‘most exciting' energy saving device in years. The Ewgeco works by showing at a glance the precise consumption of electricity, water and gas at real-time, including oil & LPG use.

Each time the appliances and taps are turned on and off, the display panel on the small box shows the level of consumption. While it will save households and businesses hundreds of pounds every year, it is also designed to be educational, teaching children and adults that each time a bedroom light or the TV is left on standby, it costs money.

Tanya, who has battled Lyme disease, logged online to search for a visual device that provided households or businesses with real time energy readings, but said: “The search proved fruitless but it led me to believe that I had identified a gap in the market for a new energy efficiency product.”

She got in touch with the Innovators Counselling and Advisory Service for Scotland , a Scottish Executive -sponsored initiative, and gained advice on how to safeguard her ideas and to take it further.

Now, she has released her product, pronounced ‘Ugeeko', having lodged a global patent application and has patent pending on her invention. She is already taking orders from housebuilders, home improvement stores and local authorities.

Tanya added: “The majority of the population are unaware of the true cost of appliances and by saving just 1p an hour this adds up to annual saving of £87.60. But it can be worth a lot more than that. People will be surprised just how much they will be able to save.”

Jean Morrison, CEO of SCARF (Save Cash and Reduce Fuel), an energy efficiency charity, said: “ Ewgeco is straightforward to use to monitor the household's gas, electricity and water consumption. It will encourage people to switch appliances of rather than leave them on standby.”

Patent Pending
GB0617147.4