18 Aug Paul’s sustainability approach drives innovation
As engineers, we’re always interested in interesting innovations and ground-breaking product developments, even if it’s not in our sector. Over the past decade we’ve admired the work of a number of engineers, but none more so than James Dyson, who has invented a number of well-known household products that have taken existing ideas and improved them significantly.
So imagine our delight when we learned that our very own engineering technician Paul Blainey has been nominated for a James Dyson Award. While studying for his Master’s degree at university in Cardiff, Paul designed a self-filling water boiling jug that has the potential to significantly reduce the energy usage and water wastage that occurs when boiling a kettle for cups of tea and coffee.
Incredible volumes of water are wasted each day in households and offices through boiling more water than necessary. Most people tend to fill a kettle with water even when they only require a small volume for two or three cups of tea. This behaviour results in energy and water wastage on a large scale not just in the UK but across the world. Titled Otis, the water boiling jug is a solution that boils the exact amount of water that is required. Users select the volume needed for a predefined number of cups of tea or coffee and Otis does the rest, removing human error altogether.
While this in itself is an impressive innovation, Paul recognised that usability could be further improved, which is why he added functionality that would enable users to control Otis from a smartphone – so users would be able to boil water remotely.
As a company that prides itself on reducing materials waste and improving efficiency, Paul’s approach to innovation and product development is one we admire and is one of many reasons why Paul fits in so well at Dawson Shanahan. We wish Paul the best of luck in reaching the shortlist of the James Dyson Award.