Earlier this year,
Zerofootprint introduced a new innovation: the "
Talking Plug." It's an outlet that can monitor a building's energy use � down to the level of individual appliances � and show how much power is being drawn and how much it costs. It could also allow a person to shut off individual outlets remotely, and instantly see the savings in energy and dollars.
That product, which drew notice via an outline of the technology in
Forbes written by Zerofootprint founder and CEO Ron Dembo, was just among the latest of dozens of initiatives the company has launched. "We're essentially a about measurement," Dembo says, "once you measure energy use you can see how it compares to others and actually reduce it."
The company launched as a non-profit in 2005, but launched a for-profit segment to manage its
Velo carbon-footprint-measurement software two years ago. From its start in 2008, Dembo says the company has grown to 25 office staff today (noting, however, that much of the company's work -- design, manufacturing, PR � is outsourced, so employment might not be the best measure of growth). "Eseentially, in the first quarter of this year, we've generated as much revenue as we did in all of last year," he says. "And back then, it was about the same -- over the year before, about a factor of four. Though I can't imagine we'll sustain quite that pace for too long."
Unless, of course, the right customers come to the table. Dembo says widespread sales of the Talking Plug await a large order of a few hundred thousand to make production scalable. He's hoping the Ontario government will see the value of its interface for use with the smart meters currently hooked up to residential hydro accounts. "We could get this out quickly -- with or without the smart plugs -- just by tapping into the smart meters," he says. "The provincial government could create an industry here."
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Ron Dembo, founder and CEO, Zerofootprint
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