“One day of extra energy use from overfilling electric kettles is enough to light all the streetlights in England for a night.” This statement by sustainability advocate Leyla Acaroglu, in a 2013 TED talk, was the spark that inspired the development of a smart, energy-saving and genuinely exciting alternative to the electric kettle.
As a Brit myself, I'm well aware that the stereotype of us as a nation of tea-drinkers is based on quite a bit of fact. It's no secret that we love a cup of tea. In fact, according to the UK Tea and Infusions Association, we drink approximately 165 million cups of it a day. But with 65 percent of tea drinkers in the UK admitting that they overfill their kettles and boil more water than they need, that adds up to a lot of wasted energy.
And it’s certainly not an issue that’s specific to the UK – people everywhere are heating more water than they need, simply because the minimum fill line of most kettles is 500ml, more than you need for a single cup. Hearing Acaroglu's talk inspired designer Nils Chudy to come up with MIITO: the electric kettle, reinvented. Actually, calling it a kettle is rather misleading. In fact, it’s a whole new, behaviour-changing way, of boiling water.
The simple device is made up of two separate parts: an induction base and a slim magnetic rod. Just place your cup, bowl, or teapot onto the base and drop the rod inside, immersing it in the liquid. An electromagnetic field is automatically created in the base, heating the disc at the bottom of the rod. The disc then transfers the heat directly to the liquid, boiling the water for your cup of tea. Take out the rod and wipe it down, and it’s ready to be used again.
The idea is very straight-forward: because you only ever heat exactly as much as you need, no energy is wasted. And the simplicity of the design means it can have multiple applications too. So as well as heating water to make tea, it could be used to warm up baby food without a microwave, make hot milk to add to your coffee, or heat bowls of soup.
The MIITO team recently carried out a hugely successful crowd-funding campaign (they reached 400 percent of their target!), meaning the product will be entering the manufacturing process any time now. For updates on the progress of the project and to find out how to pre-order your own MIITO, be sure to keep an eye on their facebook page. And for a quick look at the MIITO magic in action, check out the video below.