This blog post originally appeared on December 31st, 2011, in the Huffington Post Canada. Subscribe to all of Ron Dembo’s blog posts by signing up to the RSS feed.

Early in December I was sitting in the middle of Milne Bay, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, eating my breakfast. To my left at the table was Charlie Veron, one of the world’s most preeminent scientists on extinction. We were on our way to see ocean vents where pure carbon dioxide is leaking from the ocean floor—a reminder that we are sitting on the edge of a ring of fire, one of the most active volcanic areas of the world.

It is always true that the future is here for us to see. We only have to look for it.

Camilla Cornell, Financialpost.com
December 19, 2011

When Tom Heintzman travels, he either uses a plug-in hybrid car or purchases carbon offsets for all of his flights, takes public transport from the airport where possible, and uses hotel chains that are powered at least partially by renewable energy. But you would expect that of the co-founder and president of Toronto-based Bullfrog Power Inc., a green electricity producer.

Mr. Heintzman argues there’s a business case to be made for all companies – whether they style themselves as “green” or not – to reduce their transportation footprint.

“We definitely have a lot of polling data that suggest consumers are increasingly aware of companies’ corporate social responsibility and environmental practices and they’re increasingly relevant,” he says.

Many companies’ requests for proposals (RFPs) for business travel agreements now include pointed questions about what the chain is doing to mitigate its carbon footprint, says Sarah Dayboll, director of environmental affairs for Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

Zerofootprint Software Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of Kenneth Ogilvie to its Board of Directors.

Mr. Ogilvie is an independent environmental policy consultant with more than three decades of experience in government, institutional and not-for-profit organizations. His unique combination of talents and experience make him a valued addition to Zerofootprint Software Inc.

Zerofootprint Software Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of Gordon Feller to its Board of Directors.

A veteran businessman and community leader, Mr. Feller brings three decades of leadership experience to this new position.

He currently serves as a Director with Cisco Systems’ Internet Business Solutions Group, where he leads initiatives that support innovative urban development projects across three continents. Prior to joining Cisco, he was CEO of Urban Age, an international organization focused on the future of cities. Thanks to his leadership, hundreds of thought-leaders and policy-makers from around the world gather annually to share their ideas on sustainable development.

Jon Dellandrea Joins Zerofootprint Board of Directors

Zerofootprint is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Jon S. Dellandrea, CM to its Board of Directors.

Dr. Dellandrea is best known for his tenure as Vice-President and Chief Advancement Officer at the University of Toronto. Between 1994 and 2005, he led an initiative which raised more than $1.2 billion for the institution, allowing endowed student aid to increase from $68.7 million in 1995 to $463 million in 2004. More recently, he was involved in the launching of a $2.5 billion campaign for Oxford University – the biggest of its kind to date in Europe.

Cathy Rust, BECgreen.ca
November 14, 2011

Zerofootprint provides the software for this genius device called the TalkingPlug.

Currently still in development, this plug could be groundbreaking in terms of what it could do for helping consumers and commercial activities reduce energy consumption. Any electricity consuming appliance plugged into the TalkingPlug can be monitored and controlled via a computer.

Cathy Rust, BECgreen.ca
November 14, 2011

Zerofootprint has developed sophisticated software to help clients figure out where they are starting from (benchmark) and what they need to do to reduce their energy consumption. Take, for example, the Halton Catholic District School Board.

Cathy Rust, BECgreen.ca
November 14, 2011

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.

This blog post originally appeared in the Canadian edition of the Huffington Post. Get all the newest posts by signing up to Zerofootprint CEO Ron Dembo’s Huffington Post blog RSS feed.

Climate change is one of the most hotly debated issues of our time, both from an economic and a moral viewpoint. And whenever someone makes a case for action from a moral stance, most often they’ll justify it by invoking the future plight of the world and the children that will inherit it. It’s a delicate subject, after all, what’s more important than our children?

2011 Zerofootprint Re-Skinning Award Winners and Finalists Revealed at Greenbuild

Annual competition aims to jump-start the discussion on how we might retrofit entire cities to
fight climate change

TORONTO (October 11, 2011) – The winners of the 2011 Zerofootprint Re-Skinning Awards
were announced last week at the U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild International
Conference and Expo, showcasing excellence in holistic retrofitting projects from around
the world. Zerofootprint founder and CEO Ron Dembo made the announcement during
his breakout session on energy benchmarking and the importance of improving our older,
existing stock of urban buildings to fight climate change.