CottageCountry Now
May 05, 2010 - 8:28 AM

Energy consumption software a possibility for Waterloo

HUNTSVILLE — Electricity consumption at Huntsville’s greenest building could soon be monitored using state-of-the-art software.

The creator of a company called Zerofootprint, which uses software to wirelessly measure utility consumption, could be doing a demonstration at the University of Waterloo environmental facility, according to Huntsville mayor Claude Doughty.

Doughty says he hopes the technology could eventually be built into the facility.

“It’s very interesting technology,” he told council this month. “It would fit in very well in the building.”

In the mostly federally funded University of Waterloo environment facility, $1.8 million is being spent on green technologies.

The facility, which will first be used during the G8 Summit and then leased to the university, boasts geothermal heating, a “living wall” full of live vegetation, water and energy-conserving fixtures, and more.

The Zerofootprint software works by hooking up monitoring devices in the building using specially built plugs called “talking plugs,” which cost about $75 each to build,  said Ron Dembo, the chief executive officer of Zerofootprint, who sits on Waterloo’s environmental studies board.

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