Residential Water Bill Reduction with Self-powered Diagnostics & Services

Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

The Candide Group LLC

Recipient

Los Angeles, CA

Recipient Location

28th

Senate District

57th

Assembly District

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$429,272

Amount Spent

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Active

Project Status

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Project Update

This project kicked-off in July 2022. Since then the project team has begun material manufacturing for a custom multi-layered piezoelectric capacitor and procuring all necessary components through suppliers and in-house manufacturing within geometric, mechanical, and electrical specifications.

As of the end of 2024, material verification has been completed. The result verified the performance of the material to meet the power demand of the product. Namely, both resonant and off resonant response of the device were measured to achieve industry-leading power metrics. The metrics included peak and off-peak performance and the tunability to various input magnitude and frequency. Concurrently, product procurement continues with software development. The programming logic has been established based on the energy harvesting capabilities previously measured. The key objective of software development is to minimize power consumption during operation and reduce overall product cost.

The Issue

The cost of lithium batteries has fallen dramatically in the past decade. For a 4-hour, grid-tied solution, the levelized cost is approaching $0.20/kilowatt-hour (kWh). However, single-use batteries can be 1,000 times more expensive given the need for replacement. Throw-away batteries remain the most expensive source of power in the world today. Consequently, battery devices are extremely low power, typically drawing <1 milliwatt (mW) on average to reduce the burden of replacements or recharging. The poor economics limit the use of battery devices at scale (for instance, large-scale infrastructure monitoring). Alternatively, energy harvesting could support numerous and more powerful devices while generating cost savings over time.

Project Innovation

This project will deploy a novel auto-modulating power source (AMPS) device and demonstrate water and cost savings across approximately 150 affordable housing units in Los Angeles. The bill savings from water and avoidance of lithium battery replacements will be scalable to over two-thirds of California households to meet Assembly Bill 758 mandates and other municipal green initiatives.The target application is multi-family housing where a majority of water meters are read bimonthly and tenants overpay regardless of usage.

Project Goals

Validate proof of customer benefits with up to 34% bill savings on water.

Help monitor water use for leakage detection and mitigate inadvertent water use.

Improve water quality with autonomous sensing, tracking, and reporting of contamination.

Provide service and emergency shutoff features to mitigate expensive plumbing contractor costs (~$200/visit).

Project Benefits

The technology being deployed is a 100-mW new and retrofit device for smart water metering. The AMPS technology powers wireless data indefinitely by harnessing energy from water pressure. For municipal utilities, multi-family housing, and corporate buildings, AMPS alleviates manual processes such as water meter readings, service connection and disconnection, water-use identification, leakage notification, and emergency shutoffs. The technology enables widescale water submetering and quality monitoring, reducing waste.

Affordability

Enabling widescale water submetering and quality monitoring can help reduce costs by detecting leaks or other issues with water delivery.

Equity

Most multi-family housing tenants overpay for water due to inaccurate submetering - this technology can increase metering accuracy, which can catch issues early and help reduce costs.