Zerofootprint: Energy Efficiency through Software, Architectural Design and Human Behaviour

Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with Ron Dembo, CEO of Zerofootprint. We talked about the three different areas his company is working on right now and all are about achieving the same goal: reducing energy consumption, whether it’s through plug load, adding insulation or by altering human behaviour. Furthermore, Ron and Zerofootprint believe in benchmarking as a starting point. If this sounds at all familiar, then, hooray! you’ve been reading my blog, because I too in a firm believer of knowing where you’re starting from in order to develop a reduction strategy. There was so much to discuss, and Zerofootprint is involved in so many different projects that I separated the information into three different articles.

• The Zerofootprint Re-skinning Awards: Energy Efficiency for Towers looks at Zerofootprint’s mission to highlight projects from around the world that focus on adding new building envelopes to increase a building’s energy efficiency
• Zerofootprint challenges students to reduce their school’s electricity use School administrations, students and parents can compare their school’s energy and water consumption to other schools’ within their board with the aim of reducing overall use.
• The TalkingPlug a plug that is connected to your computer so that you can control anything plugged into it remotely. It also shows you how much energy the appliance plugged into it is using.

Finally, Zerofootprint works with organizations such as Earth Hour and provides one minute carbon and water personal calculators to help you find out how you stack up to the average Canadian. The calculators give you a very rough idea of how much CO2 emissions you are responsible for due to your transportation, diet, travel and home. I input my data and am sorry to learn that I am responsible for the emission of 10 tons/year of CO2 — half of which are due to the number of kilometers I put on our minivan. In fact when I switched my answer from my minivan to hybrid, my emissions dropped to 5.3 tons/year. Fortunately I fared much better in water consumption and came in at 85,000 litres per year, about 25% less than the Canadian average, but still not something I’d brag about. If you’re serious about benchmarking your carbon footprint, Zerofootprint offers a more in-depth carbon calculator, but you need access to your utility bills and should block out at least half an hour to fill out the forms. It’s worth it if you really want to know where you stand.