Robo-flower wilts as power burns
Bloomin' heck
An electronic flower has been designed that blooms in tune to your household’s electricity conservation in real time.
The Wilting Flower: from standing proud to shrinking violet
The Wilting Flower wirelessly receives information from a transmitter that’s clipped onto your mains power supply. The flower then interprets this information and adapts its stance according to how much juice you're currently sucking up.
If you’re not using much, then the flower stands proud with its petals open and erect. But once the power begins flowing more freely it’ll start to shrivel, close its petals and glow first yellow then red.
Batteries not included...
However, if you’ve got the PlayStation 3, TV, lights, washing machine, dryer, PC and stereo all going then the flower glows purple and wilts over more severely, apparently to mimic a dying flower. Aww...
The Wilting Flower was designed by Carl Smith, a recent graduate from Loughborough University.
Plans to manufacture the Wilting Flower haven’t been announced yet.
COMMENTS
I've got one of those.
My wife's face wilts everytime she has to pay the fucking leccy bill.
Pointless
It'll be wilting all the time, and I'd end up chucking it in the bin.
Besides, stuff all this and just build more CO2 friendly nuke generators and stop wasting money on the no-so-green-as-you-think wind farms. Problem solved and we can eat up all the juice we like then.
Yeah, I know, where to bury the waste. Superman surely can just lob it into the sun can't he?
Mine's the one with the inanimate carbon rod in the pocket.
It's a good idea
Seriously - most people have no idea how much power different devices use. They probably don't bother to read the 'leccy bill properly as you don't really have a choice about paying it. I bet few have any idea what is making the numbers go up.
The most scientific solution is a visable meter in the living room but only geeks will want this and your avaerage punter won't understand the numbers. The flower works because it's simple to understand and people will get an emotional attachment to it. They will be proud to see it blooming. And when they switch the spin drier on will want to fill it so the flower recovers quickly rather than use lots of half-loads.
As a method of expaling the connection between cause (using power) and effect (higher bills/global warming) to the masses, this is brilliant.
I fucking love it
Sod all that ecobollocks you could slap one in your lapel and make like Oscar Wilde. I'm sure some douchebag could jigger it so the flower reflects your friend's twitters or somesuch. Oh the horrible greasy potential of it makes my eyes itch.
