A modular power adapter driven by AI-enabled software, making energy saving easy and rewarding like never before
Check on Kickstarter
Maybe you’ve seen a “smart” outlet or power strip before. It may be ignored in the corner of your room and only useful if you give it an app or voice command. It may also be doing something far more sinister, stripping your power beneath the tangled wires.
What if instead of being ignored, messy, inefficient, and underutilized, power outlets could be self-driven with a mission to guide you towards saving energy and reducing the carbon footprint of your plugged-in devices? We felt compelled to answer this question…
Inspired by the Teak tree for its formidable resistance to the elements and endurance, we see the Teak Smart Cube as a sturdy building block for a low carbon future. However, it is so much more than just a cube-shaped power outlet. Our versatile hardware and AI-enhanced software is as rewarding as it is intelligent.
Step 1. Plug in electronics around your home office or TV entertainment system.
Step 2. Use your devices as normal. The AI “eMission Control” starts learning when your plugged-in devices are not in use but still leeching energy.
“eMission Control” would also reference the local energy grid to track not only the cost of electricity but also the breakdown of your energy consumption by source (ie. wind, solar, hydro, gas, coal, etc). This helps you establish baseline energy usage and carbon emissions to gauge how they would improve over time.
Step 3. On a weekly basis, “eMission Control” identifies when to turn devices on and off for energy saving and carbon footprint reduction. If you accept its recommendations, schedules will auto-populate and auto-execute. But what if my usage or schedule changes? Don’t worry.
1) You can easily override the AI in app or via the LED buttons on the cube. It will adapt to this change the following week.
2) The AI also knows when you are actively using a device so it will refrain from turning off a TV in the middle of a football game (as an example) without your permission.
Step 4. The more you turn things off and save energy, the smarter and eco-friendlier Teak gets, guiding you to planting trees for annual emission offsets, recycling old, unusable e-waste, or discounted purchases on energy efficient upgrades for appliances.
That’s our philosophy and why Teak and its companion app are unique in EVERY way.
Compact & Modular Hardware with Built-in Surge Protection
- Teak Cube: 4 smart AC outlets, 4″ x 4″ x 4″ cube, 12.5 A current rating
- Teak Trunk: 2 smart + 3 regular AC outlets, 4″x 3″ x 4″, 12.5 A current rating
- Teak Branch: 2 smart AC outlets, 4″ x 1″ x 4″, 12.5 A current rating
Versatile & Configurable Design
- 2 standalone smart power extenders combinable into a single cube
- Orientable outlets to organize cluttered wires and look clean in any space you need
Our Favorite Setup
- Branch on wall and Trunk on table
Rewards
To assure you that the AI and software work, we soldered, coded, and sold single outlet sample “Acorns” to users across 11 states.
IOS and Android Compatible App
- Voice controllable via Amazon Alexa and Google Smart Home
- Eliminates your devices’ “Phantom Load” energy usage
- Tracks your energy fuel source data from the local grid
- Tracks and reduces your carbon footprint
- Tracks your detailed daily energy usage broken down by device
- Amplifies your impact through real rewards
You probably don’t unplug your devices when you are done using them. Most people leave their devices plugged in while on standby or “off” mode all day, every day, not realizing just how wasteful this can be for their wallet and the environment. In aggregate, this standby results in $19B billion of wasted power and carbon emissions equivalent of driving 9+ million cars in a year for electricity people don’t even use!
Nowadays, we are using more energy at home than ever. And, to make matters worse energy costs around the world have skyrocketed, causing many to struggle with their electricity bills. Meanwhile, under the backdrop of exacerbated climate change, we need a solution that is realistic for the masses: one that can save energy and the environment but doesn’t compromise your lifestyle.
Teak Smart Cube is that plug and save solution.
People who work from home could maximize the benefits of the Teak Smart Cube. Remote workers can take it anywhere. Renters AND landlords can take advantage of greater control to effectively reduce their energy bill and strain on the local grid. Gamers can add it to their collection, saving energy while having fun at it. Parents have used it for parental control on gaming consoles. Even more, it shapes your behavior to be more eco-friendly.
Per our field test: you can save up to 500 kWh and $75 per year through just “Phantom Load” elimination (based on national average electricity cost of $0.15 / kWh), suggesting that the cube pays for itself within a year.
Don’t just trust us, hear from users’ experiences.
We’re a small team of engineers on a mission to make conservation, not consumption, as easy as possible with cutting-edge technology. Teammates have come together from Yale, Cornell, and MIT to reimagine power outlets with AI and take the 3 decade old rectangular power strip for a new cubic spin.
Ryan and Joe embarked on this journey while they were still students at Yale. Ryan was wrapping up his MBA and Joe was finishing his B.S. in Environmental Engineering. They shared a passion in sustainability and have combined experiences in building hardware, software, and businesses for large companies like Shell Oil and Alibaba as well as small startups via Venture for America.
Along the way, our mission resonated with many people and organizations, who supported our endeavors with mentorship, resources, and critical hardware development tools and space. Several notable organizations already said they loved our technology! Check us out in the news:
- Featured by Yale School of Management
- Featured by Alibaba
- Winner of WeWork NYC Changemaker series
- Winner of TiE50, TiE Silicon Valley’s Premier Annual Award for Early Stage Startups
- Rev Ithaca Startup Works Demo Day
Together, we can achieve THIS in one year:
- Save $112,000 in energy costs
- Save 750 Megawatt hours
- Reduce 650,000 lbs of CO2
We are confident and optimistic in our mission but still have hurdles to cross. Your backing will help us overcome the following initial startup costs:
- Injection molding and tooling costs
- Mandatory UL and FCC licensing approval for Teak Smart Cube
- Manufacturing and assembling Teak
- Packaging and shipping to you
