BriteThings Introduces First Product: Intelligent Plugs That Think For Themselves

    OAKLAND, CA, November 15, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- BriteThings, an Oakland-based provider of smart plugs and power strips, today announced the launch of its first product, BritePlug.

BritePlugs use artificial intelligence to cut energy costs and reduce CO2 by learning customers' behavior and automatically setting up on/off schedules for anything that gets plugged in. BritePlugs maximize energy savings without affecting productivity by turning device off when people don't need them and on again before they do. "It's an instant 'Green Program' for you and your enterprise, focused on positive outcomes that are automatic and measurable, and demonstrate to the world your commitment to our environment," said BriteThings CEO Mike Wilson.

BritePlug devices learn the individual's behavior to best save energy. The intelligent on/off power control displays energy use/energy saving to catalyze user behavior change, helping the enterprise save money and benefit the environment.

BritePlug features include power metering, programmable scheduling, occupancy sensor, Wi-Fi capability, and Cloud-based data storage, display and controls.

"We are addressing a huge problem in this country. Millions of devices in the United States are left on or in "stand-by" mode all day, every day, wasting $11 Billion in electricity* and creating over 110 million tons of CO2, equivalent to adding 20 million cars to US highways each year.

BriteThings' products solve this problem by learning how and when each individual in the enterprise uses her electronic devices, compiles the data and then sends the user an energy-saving schedule to automatically turn "off" power to devices when not in use. Customers just click to approve the schedule and all their devices automatically start saving energy.

"Customers only pay for the energy we save them," says Mr. Wilson, "We give customers our plugs, then we split with the customer the savings over what their energy bill would have been. It's a perfect "set it and forget it" system, and truly a win-win situation that helps customers cut costs while having a positive effect on climate change."

How it works...
Customers plug their devices into BriteThings plugs connected to their Wi-Fi network. Over the next few days the BriteThings system learns a customer's behavior and comes up with an appropriate intelligent energy savings schedule for that user. This schedule is presented to the customer, who can edit or change it, as she likes. Once she clicks "approve," the energy savings begin. Customers receive a monthly notification telling just how much CO2 they have saved, as well as the amount of money saved.

"We felt this positive message would help people feel better about participating in an energy saving program because it was easy, automatic and offered measurable positive outcomes," said Mr. Wilson.

* EnergyStar.gov report

BriteThings (http://www.britethings.com/)
BriteThings develops Internet connected plugs and power strips that allow customers to control, monitor and schedule any plugged-in device from their phone and use artificial intelligence to learn how to set on/off schedules that ensure customers devices are always "on" when they need them, and "off" when they don't.

The company was founded in Oakland, CA in February 2016 by Sherry Hu and her husband Tom Tam, both of whom are long-time experts in energy efficiency. Ms Hu has managed large energy efficiency programs for PG&E.

"There are just so many devices in my home and office that I should turn off, but don't always do that because I either forget or just didn't have the time," said Ms. Hu. She wanted to know how big this problem really was when she noticed at work that nobody turned off the coffee maker in the break room. One day she measured how much electricity that coffee maker used when it is plugged in but not active. She discovered that one device, in the space of one year, generated close to a half ton of CO2; the equivalent to driving an average car 700 miles.

According to Tom Tam, co-founder of the company, "It's estimated by the United State Department of Energy that the US wastes $18 billion per year on electricity to run devices while no one is using them* Power plants generating electricity to feed these unused devices, produce the same amount of CO2 that an extra 55 Million cars would produce in a single year.

In an effort to address the problem, Sherry and Tom developed a way to automate turning devices on and off in such a way that it would not interfere with peoples' lives, and still give them positive saving messages rather than telling them how bad they were or how much energy they wasted.

CEO Mike Wilson is a long-time serial entrepreneur in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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