With utility bills becoming a larger slice of the monthly outgoings, Tanya wanted to be able to see at a glance how much water, gas and electricity was being consumed at any point in time and how this related to her energy bills.

After exhaustive searches on the Internet, she was unable to find a device that would give the information she needed so decided to invent an energy monitoring device herself.

"The majority of the population is unaware of the true cost of appliances and by saving just 1p an hour, this adds up to annual saving of £87.60," says Tanya.

It is her strong belief that if people can easily see how their energy consumption reduces when they start to turn off lights and other household appliances, they will quickly learn to change their behaviour not only saving money, but greatly reducing their carbon footprint.

Less than a year after her initial idea, Ewgeco has a global patent pending and Tanya is in consultation with house builders, and local councils.

Ewgeco will also feature in Europe's first carbon-neutral house, to be unveiled at a major construction exhibition in June.

Tanya’s initiative and effort have already been recognised. She won £1000 as the Tayside regional winner in the ‘Business Idea’ competition, and used the money to make a promotional DVD.

Tanya has already taken on her first member of staff and is in the process of recruiting a second. With projections of a multi-million pound turnover by 2010, Ewgeco has a very bright future.

An electricity only version of the Ewgeco device is currently being developed and will be available for sale commercially early in 2008.

Find out more visit www.ewgeco.com

Tanya is pictured here with her baby son, Coll, who arrived in the midst of all the business excitement.