ONZO: Tio
ONZO provides utility companies with customer intelligence solutions, and collaborated with design student Tim Holley to develop Tio.
Tio is a light switch which provides a simple way is to engage and educate children about their lighting’s energy consumption and its effect on the environment. Tio encourages children to turn lights off, and becomes more irritable the longer they are left on. Information is sent to a computer by Tio, allowing energy use to be tracked over time. This engages children to make a personal contribution to reducing energy consumption.
The project was awarded the HSBC Sustainability Prize in 2009. Tio has been featured in research papers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and in presentations by global companies such as Vodafone. In April 2010 Tio was featured by Springwise, analysts of global business trends, in a focus on in-home energy monitoring devices.
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