Solar Sync

Problem: Water is becoming a scarce resource and certain communities are already experiencing how water shortages is affecting their quality of life. In California, for example, which experienced a 4-year drought, was exposed to strict regulations regarding ‘unnecessary’ water use (e.g. lawn irrigation). As water becomes even less available, such concerns will become more severe, however, certain technologies are trying to find ways so that people may not need to sacrifice their lifestyle to such extreme extents, but rather try to use the water that they have more efficiently.

Article/ Technology:

Solar Sync ET does just that: it is a smart irrigation control system that uses a weather sensor and calculates evapotranspiration so that it can adjusts irrigation timers/controllers based on the daily local weather conditions.

Using the temperature, sunlight, and its calculated evapotranspiration rate, the Solar Sync adjusts sends signals to the timer and tells it how long the irrigation system should run for.

According to the website, this technology is compatible with most of the company’s controllers and can be used for residences, businesses, and even municipalities.

Link: http://www.hunterindustries.com/irrigation-product/sensors/solar-syncr

Stakeholders:

• Suppliers
• Engineers
• Hunter (Company that owns the technology)
• Investors
• Retailers
• Customers (Residential owners, businesses, municipalities)

Implementation:

• Next steps for this company would be to consider making this technology compatible with other sensors. While it is a business decision to make it only compatible with its other products, it might be another business opportunity to expand this sensor to other brands as well.

• Additionally, the company should look to market to businesses and municipalities, who will especially feel the impacts of stricter water regulations and who will be looking to invest in technology that allows them to maintain daily activities with little interruption.
• Finally, the company should especially be marketing in areas of drought or water shortages as these are the areas most pressured to invest in solutions.