AI-powered sprinklers from companies like Irrigreen promise to cut water usage in half by precisely targeting only the lawn, reducing waste and saving costs.
As the heat intensifies, Americans are using more water to keep their lawns green, often leading to significant wastage. Traditional sprinklers are inefficient, spraying water on driveways, sidewalks, and unintended areas. This inefficiency contributes to the estimated 9 billion gallons of water used daily for landscape irrigation in the U.S., with about half of this water going to waste, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Amidst rising water costs and increasing concerns about climate-induced water scarcity and drought, smarter irrigation solutions are emerging. Companies such as Rain Bird, Rachio, and Minnesota-based Irrigreen are at the forefront, developing technologies to improve irrigation accuracy significantly.
Shane Dyer, CEO of Irrigreen, describes their product as a “digital, robotic sprinkler” that utilizes artificial intelligence to ensure water is applied only where it’s needed. “It’s a digital, robotic sprinkler that pops up in the middle of the lawn and it basically traces the contours of your landscaping, and it’s putting down a completely even layer of water,” said Dyer. This system, akin to the precision of an inkjet printer, follows the exact shape of the landscape, delivering water uniformly across the lawn.
How AI Enhances Watering Efficiency
Irrigreen’s innovative approach leverages cloud data and AI to customize watering patterns based on various factors such as soil type, grass variety, and sun exposure. This ensures each area of the lawn receives the precise amount of water it needs.
Dyer elaborates, “We use the cloud data and information we have about your soil and what kind of crop you’re growing like what type of grass, like cool weather grass or warm weather grass, how much shade and sun you have, so that we can design patterns that follow the weather, so that every single zone in your house gets an individualized watering pattern.”
The system’s integration with weather forecasts prevents watering during rain, and its operations are controlled via an app, allowing users to adjust the sprinkler head’s movement to navigate corners and create specific watering patterns. This smart system has already been installed in thousands of locations across the country and is rapidly expanding, attracting attention from investors such as Ulu Ventures.
AI Sprinkler’s Market Potential
Steve Reale, CFO of Ulu Ventures, underscores the market potential: “It was an extraordinary market opportunity. There are 80 million lawns in the United States, and this is an innovative technology that not only saves money but dramatically reduces the amount of water [a] consumer uses.”
With installation costs ranging from $2,000 to $5,000, Irrigreen’s system is competitively priced against other in-ground systems, yet offers superior efficiency. The company claims that its installed systems have already conserved about 200 million gallons of water. Additionally, Irrigreen offers a tool on its website where users can input their address to see their current water wastage, using satellite imagery to provide this insight.
Backed by significant investment, including $15 million from Ulu Ventures, Sage Hill Investors, Burnt Island Ventures, MFV Partners, and Sum Ventures, Irrigreen is poised to make a substantial impact on water conservation in residential lawn care.
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Featured Image courtesy of Paul Moody on Unsplash