Ever since I read the recent Ask Umbra on the most environmentally friendly ways to boil water, I’ve been rethinking my tea-making strategy. At present, I’m a practitioner of the stovetop method, but lately I’ve noticed that, unless I’m really really really paying attention, Early Morning Me tends to put the kettle half on and half off the burner. Not so good for the tea, worse for the environment.
After catching myself committing this particular conservation crime a couple of times this week, I decided it was time to spring for an electric kettle. Lo and behold, I ran across a British contraption called — what else? — the Eco Kettle.
Here’s how it works. Most people fill the pot, boil all the water, then drink only a cup or two. (Wasteful, wasteful, wasteful.) But the Eco Kettle allows you to fill the pot, then set the kettle to boil only the number of cups you need. Voila! Instant energy savings.
And apparently, if you live in a tea-drinking nation, the savings are nothing to sniff at, either. According to the United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, if every tea drinker under the Union Jack boiled only the water she needed, the country would save enough energy to power about 75 percent of its street lamps. Pip pip.
Now here’s the part where I give you the good news and the bad news. The good: U.S. buyers can purchase the Eco Kettle through Amazon. The bad: It costs a whopping $69.99.
But hey, think of all the happy streetlights …
