The value of measuring your ‘footprint’

Businesses are dealing with not only rising energy and water prices but also increasing regulatory pressure on their capacity to better manage water and energy consumption. No matter what size the operation, every manager knows that “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”.

Footprint is an online monitoring tool developed by Melbourne-based iota. Using the tool, organisations can monitor and quickly review every aspect of their environmental footprint, including:

• energy and water consumption
• petrol, diesel and LPG consumption
• trade waste discharge
• bore water and recycled water consumption
• stormwater harvesting projects
• refrigerant leakage
• corporate transport including flights and vehicle mileage
• corporate and community waste to landfill

Data is stored permanently and centrally so years of background and comparative information can be used to manage, analyse and report on performance.

The City of Greater Dandenong uses Footprint to monitor water and electricity usage across meters in 18 locations.  By using real-time monitoring, the council has been able to detect and address water leaks at every monitored meter and identify ways to save electricity by fixing faulty equipment and changing practices. Water savings to date have been measured at 329,802 litres per day and electricity consumption has also been reduced substantially, cutting waste and reducing costs.

Jean-Paul Lambe, Manager of iota services, said the technology, which consists of a dynamic web-based monitoring platform, can help all kinds of organisations.

“Our customers include small and large businesses, local governments and schools.  Whatever kind of organisation you are running, these days you need to be able to measure and control your environmental footprint,” said Lambe.

While other monitoring tools are available, Footprint provides a comprehensive picture of performance, in real time, across the organisation’s entire carbon footprint. It is a fully integrated resource for monitoring and reporting on a wide range of sustainability-related data, from single sites or across a range of sites.

“Having such a comprehensive picture in one integrated system makes it easier and faster to fulfil reporting obligations and train new users. Users find it straightforward to monitor and interrogate data, and to create reports and analysis, with Footprint’s click and drag tools and well-designed graphical interface,” said Lambe.

Footprint can be used on PCs and mobile platforms, such as smartphones and tablets, putting real-time information at the users’ fingertips.

Ready access to this quality and quantity of data helps organisations monitor and report on their environmental performance - it also gives them the opportunity to identify issues and reduce their footprint.

“The Footprint solution is cost effective, as each customer only pays for what they need from the platform’s modular design,” continued Lambe.

Using current rebates under the Victorian State Government’s Living Victoria Water Rebate program, small businesses (up to 50 FTE employees) in Victoria can claim 50% of the cost of buying a range of approved items, until the end of June 2015 (up to a total of $2000).

iota has been established by Melbourne water retailer South East Water to capture innovation from across the organisation and turn ideas into proven technologies.