Invention claims to slash businesses' energy bills

Business owners looking for a way to cut utility costs might be interested in a new device which the inventor claims can save them significantly on their electricity bills.

An East Stroudsburg inventor says his Electrical Pod and Induction Controller (EPIC), patent pending, has been installed

Guy Lestician, a 49 year old self-described problemsolver/inventor/scientist," originally set out to design a device that would save buildings from lightning storms and power surges.

It took Lestician six months to create EPIC, which works by storing extra energy that comes into a circuit breaker panel.

This excess is deployed by the device whenever a large inrush of current is needed, before the electrical system draws in new energy from the outside power company.

The unit is built to hold twice the amperage of the building, typically 200 to 400 amps. Consequently, the capacity of EPIC can vary according to the needs of the site.

Installed within 15 minutes, the device is attached to the circuit breaker panel and grounding wire by a series of color-coded wires and uses a standard dryer plug to connect it to electrical cables entering the building.

EPIC is comprised of interconnecting wires, magnetic and capacitance components and a patented induction system.

Lestician claims businesses will see a return on investment in fewer than two years, and more than likely within the first year. The savings can often be seen on the next month's electrical bill. Each unit costs between $1,000 and $5,000 and can be custom built. In fact, through an introduction made by his neighbor who worked for Verizon, Lestician was asked to custom build three EPICs made to the company's specifications.

According to Jon Chestnut, team energy group specialist at Verizon's Team Energy division, the devices were installed on a trial basis between March and June of last year at various work centers in eastern Pennsylvania.

The best reported savings came in at a 31.14% reduction in energy consumption when compared with the same two-month period a year prior.

The second site showed a 25% reduction, and the third had no apparent savings, which was thought to be caused by initially installing the wrong size unit.

These figures were subject to many variables and final trials are still ongoing; however, Lestician indicates he has a verbal commitment from Verizon to purchase in excess of one hundred units for some of their other sites.

Lestician envisions unlimited applications for EPIC, both industrially and at the residential level. He would like to see them installed at round-the-clock businesses like fast-food chains and says he has a 37story building in New Jersey in mind for the device. Future plans include changing the laws of magnetics. He is working on a new theory of induction magnetics and says he will tie several of his inventions together to prove it."