Smart Watering System
Almost in time for the recent droughts that plagued the East coast, this system optimizes the watering of your lawn by using an integrated system of sprinklers and soil moisture sensors. As you can probably guess, the moisture sensors record how wet or dry the soil is, and the central controller uses this information to determine when and how much water to distribute to keep the grass green without wasting any water.
On one side, this seems a little trivial- many places have water in abundance, and most people aren’t lawn fanatics who care passionately about the health of their lawns. On the other side, global predictions for our planet show that fresh water will become an increasingly precious and scarce resource over the next few decades.
With this in mind, systems such as this one may become as widespread as catalytic converters on our cars, to the point that they could mandatory, and a lack of one produces the scorn of your neighbors and/or fines. On top of the regulatory issues, the increasing water prices will make these tools very cost effective in the long run, much like the smaller and more efficient hot water heaters that are going into so many new houses today.
http://www.gizmag.com/water-svaing-soil-moisture-monitoring/8459/
