carbonTRACK's energy saving device wins competition

The GAP Innovation Competition honour top innovators, researchers and entrepreneurs for exemplary work in the green and health technology sectors, the biosciences, and the ICT sectors.

The recipient of the ICT category award, carbonTRACK is a proudly South African company manufacturing an SABS-approved energy device that enables consumers to reduce their power costs.

"Energy consumption represents a large proportion of our carbon footprint and is characterised by continually increasing costs with ongoing price hikes," explains Irvan Damon, MD of carbonTRACK.

Manage consumption

"The carbonTRACK smart energy management device is installed in a consumer's home or business and connected to the distribution board. It monitors and controls heavy energy loads such as the pool, geyser, air conditioning, or the entire house, and can manage the energy consumption in that home, advising householders how to reduce their carbon footprint - by email, app push notifications, or the user interface."

Damon adds that the carbonTRACK device allows consumers to take advantage of direct savings by better monitoring their household energy usage. "This control marks the start of the 'connected home' and it opens up a wealth of connectivity-enabled possibilities." A real marketing strength of carbonTRACK is the ability to tailor the alert messages, which are custom alerts and advisory content sent to a smart phone, tablet or desktop.

Business potential

The ICT category of the GAP Innovation Hub competition aims to find innovations in the ICT sector that have strong business potential and prospects for broad social impact. More than a competition, it is designed as a development programme where short-listed entrants attend workshops, are trained in developing appropriate business models for their products, are given design and development support, along with the opportunity to enter the global Smart Living Challenge.

"This year the GAP ICT competition attracted about 90 entries, of which we short-listed 15 products," says Lufuno Ramabulana, a specialist at the Innovation Hub's Innovation Strategy Projects and manager of GAP ICT.

He says carbonTRACK was a clear winner. "There was something special about the carbonTRACK team. They have a real passion for what they are doing. Anyone can use technology, but they have a strong entrepreneurial drive. They also showed great participation throughout the programme and were keen to learn and gain insight from others in the programme."