TreeGreen lights the way to the smarter home

Launches Smart Lighting Switch for use with flagship energyEGG® to automatically switch off lights when a room is unoccupied

London, 1 October 2012 – Smart home and cleantech pioneer, TreeGreen, has announced the launch of the energyEGG® Smart Lighting Switch, which connects into the lighting circuit of a building and automatically switches the lights off when a room is unoccupied. Unlike conventional automated lighting systems however, the TreeGreen Smart Lighting Switch does not turn lights on automatically. Rather, it puts control in the hands of the user, with one simple button to press in order to change the status of the lights in a room.

The Smart Lighting Switch is designed for use in conjunction with TreeGreen’s flagship product energyEGG®, which automatically switches off connected appliances at the mains when a room is unoccupied. energyEGG incorporates a smart occupancy sensor powered by TreeGreen’s patent-pending ‘SitStill’ technology to differentiate between a room that is empty and one with motionless occupants, ensuring that nothing is switched off while still in use.

“The Smart Lighting Switch has been developed in response to customer demand and is a logical extension of the energyEGG, which provides a practical solution for families looking to control power-hungry appliances and gadgets in the most energy efficient way,” states Brian O’Reilly, managing director, TreeGreen. “People don’t tend to forget to switch things on, but the fact remains you can’t be aware of what everyone in the house is doing and where they are, so lights can easily be left on for a few hours. By installing the Smart Lighting Switch in conjunction with our energyEGG, consumers can take another step towards a smarter home and benefit from lower energy bills and carbon emissions.”

With four connection points that simply hook-up to the corresponding wires inside a room’s existing light-switch fixture, the Smart Lighting Switch can be installed by consumers themselves or by a local NICEIC-registered electrician. Pressing and holding the switch for 6-8 seconds syncs it to the energyEGG, which is then able to control both the lights and the appliances in the room. As well as domestic environments, the Smart Lighting Switch is also suitable for use in educational facilities, care homes and offices and is in trials with a number of commercial users.

“Although one of our key demographics is families, our system is focused on energy saving and doing that in a practical way so it is also suitable for a wide range of commercial applications,” O’Reilly continues. “For example, many office systems don’t allow you to override the lights functionality, whereas our system provides a master button for one-touch control. All of TreeGreen’s systems are smart and adaptive, learning individual behaviours and don’t require any change in lifestyle while helping to reduce energy bills. We continue to expand our range of products and have an R&D department actively seeking other ways for our customers to save money.”

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Notes to Editors

TreeGreen recommends the Smart Lighting Switch and energyEGG for use in the room with the most appliances as this is the one where users can save the most money. Consumers can use TreeGreen’s Energy Saving Calculator to work out how much they can save.

Based in Glasgow, TreeGreen was founded by Brian O’Reilly in 2007. Formerly a software engineer working for Oracle, Brian was inspired to create the energyEGG after being driven to distraction by his three young daughters continually leaving on games consoles, TVs and stereos when they had finished using them.

Working with Strathclyde University as a research partner, TreeGreen has taken the energyEGG from concept to commercial product, securing public sector funding from Scottish Enterprise, as well as investment from the private sector in order to expand its R&D activities and push the product out into the high street. The energyEGG was launched online in April 2011 and into John Lewis’ high-street stores in April 2012. Discussions are on-going with a number of other major retailers.

About TreeGreen
TreeGreen designs and develops consumer electronics for the efficient control of appliances in the home and workplace. TreeGreen’s flagship energyEGG® is a unique energy saving device that reduces customers’ energy bills and carbon emissions by using smart technology to switch off appliances when they are not in use. The Company was founded by Brian O’Reilly, a UK entrepreneur who was inspired to create the energyEGG after being driven to distraction by his three young daughters continually leaving on games consoles, TVs and stereos when they had finished using them. The long-term goal of TreeGreen is to design systems that use sensor data, appliance usage data, pricing signals from service providers and user input data to calculate the most energy efficient and cost-effective control solution for a building. This is closely aligned with smart grid technology and the government backed roll out of smart meters in every UK home and business by 2020. For more information please visit www.treegreen.net

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