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Spotted: The average shower head has a water flow of around 2.1 gallons per minute, and, as the average person waits around one minute for the water to heat up before stepping in, that adds up to a lot of water down the drain over time. Philippe Bijnens, co-founder of startup Heau, points out that this is “more than an inconvenience”, with the average person wasting 4000 litres and 110 kilowatt-hours of energy every year in this way.

Now, however, Heau has a solution – a two-compartment system that stores the heat from each shower for up to three days, allowing users to step straight into a hot shower with no waiting necessary. According to Bijnens, the shower system can save up to €159 per person per year when used in the home and is ideal for use in business settings such as spas, gyms, and hotels.

The Heau system stores hot water from the end of a shower in a vacuum chamber surrounded by special insulation that keeps the water hot for up to three days. At the next shower, the Heau detects the cold water and sends it to the left compartment. The cold water in the left compartment applies pressure via a flexible membrane on the stored, hot water and sends it to the mixing valve, providing instant hot water.

Once the water in the pipes has heated up, the system shuts off the hot water inlet and sends the water to the right-hand compartment, allowing it to charge the system. Heau’s technology requires a space of just 19 by 60 centimetres inside the bathroom wall, and the installation is similar to the water storage for hanging toilets. It works with any type of shower, and one model even comes with hidden internal soap storage.

The shower system will be available starting in 2025. Although still in the startup stage, Heau is already generating some buzz – the company was awarded the iF Design Award 2024 in Berlin, and also recently won a PropTech Startup & Scale-up Europe Award.

Written By: Lisa Magloff