British Columbia Innovation Council

When Al Gore first exposed the world to "The Inconvenient Truth" about climate change, he inspired people to really look at the impact we are all making on the environment. As Gore said in his documentary, "What we take for granted might not be here for our children."

Motivated by the same scientists which inspired Gore's documentary, two UBC students Janice Cheam and Lauren Kulokas wanted to empower people to make simple changes to save our environment. These budding entrepreneurs designed and developed PowerTab, an in-home energy display which tells people in real-time how much energy the home is using and how much it costs in dollars and cents at any given moment.

"Our in-home display receives real-time consumption data wirelessly from the utility service provider's smart meter, which are installed outside a home," said Cheam. "By providing feedback instantly to users rather than on a monthly basis, energy consumption significantly declines by 5 - 20%. PowerTab is easy to read and easy to use, making it simple for all household members to play a part in energy conservation."

Since the launch of Energy Aware in 2005, Cheam and Kulokas have benefited from the many resources available to BC's startup community. Over the years they thrived as they competed in the BCIC-New Ventures Competition - often likened to a bootcamp for business startups - and walked away with the BC Hydro Sustainable Award, gained valuable access to resources and mentorship from SFU's TIME Centre incubator program, and have benefited from funding from IRAP, SR&ED and Environmental Business Consultants.

Energy Aware's innovative technology has also received nods from members of BC's tech community. In 2009, the company was named the Most Promising Startup Company by BCTIA and was just named on 2011's Rocket Builder's Cleantech Emerging Rockets List, a list of companies that hold the potential for market breakthrough in the next year.

Cheam tells me they continue to grow year to year, shipping more units of product into Australia, Scandinavia and North America. "We also hope to be able to ship product within BC with the commitment to replace every home in BC with a smart meter within the next two years," added Cheam.

Reducing the carbon footprint while saving money. Effortless with the PowerTab.

Check out Energy Aware and their innovations at www.energy-aware.com.

The PowerTab in-home energy display (Images: Energy Aware)