Author’s Note:  This will be one of the few times I overtly pimp a product.  But bear with me, as usual there’s a story behind it, and at the end, I hope you’ll agree the environmental benefits of this product are simply too compelling to overlook.

Last weekend, I participated in the Kona 24 hours in the Old Pueblo mountain bike race down near Tucson, Arizona.  Among all of the joys of being snowed on, riding in the mud, and generally having a fun time riding my bike, my team managed an almost respectable 80th place of 135 4-man teams.  Nothing to write here about for sure, but along with race I got to do some hanging out with a long time friend of mine that had a crazy cool idea a few years ago to save water.  He calls it ShowerStart.

I don’t know how he came up with the idea, but he has quite a knack for coming up with really good ideas.  He came up with Amazing Mail, Letter Stream, and Bill Fire.  He’s an entrepreneur in the purest sense, willing to risk it all on the expectation that with a good idea there will eventually be a pay off.

I was able to see the first prototype for ShowerStart over 2 years ago.  It wasn’t pretty, but it demonstrated the concept.  I later got one of the first production versions, and was blown away by the simplicity of how it works, even though what I had still wasn’t the end game product.  Now the technology has been integrated inside common shower heads, which I think will change every shower head produced, some time in the near future.

So what is ShowerStart technology?  Basically, it’s a fairly simple thermodynamic device that senses when the water coming through has reached a warm temperature.  During their research period, they found that people have 3 different ways that they “wait” for the water in the shower to heat up:

1. Stand there with your hand under the water until it feels warm.
2. Linger near the shower, periodically testing the water as you attempt to do something else.
3. Turn on the water, do whatever else you have in mind, knowing that later it will be ready…whether later is 30 seconds, 1 minute, or 5 minutes from now.

User’s of method #1 and #2 don’t waste too much water.  They waste their time, but not much water.  But those of us in category #3 (of which, I’ll admit I primarily fall), we waste a lot of water.  And it’s hot water, so we’re wasting water that has a significant energy cost.

ShowerStart technology slows nearly to a halt the flow of water, once it reaches 95 degrees.  You can hear the difference in the flow, so you know when it’s hot.  Since the flow is very low, you no longer need to lament about wasted water, if you don’t get back to the shower right when the water turned warm.  When you eventually do get back to the shower, all you have to do is flick the button (like starting a car, hence the name), and the water coming out of the shower will be hot and ready for you.  Now if Sports Center has my attention an extra 2 minutes I don’t have to feel guilty about not getting into the shower right away.

Where do you get a showerhead with ShowerStart technology?  Right now from evolve.  They are working on making them available at the big box home improvement centers, but for now, online will have to be your answer.  In some cities, there may even be credits that you can get from your water company to install one, though I don’t believe City of Phoenix has agreed to that yet (go figure).

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