Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Residential and commercial use of primary and secondary energy accounted for 17% and 14% respectively of final demand compared to industrial, transportation and agriculture in 2018 in Canada. With year-over-year demand increases for residential and commercial energy consumption occupants play an increasingly large role in reduction of emissions at work and home. There are several low or non- greenhouse gas emitting energy generation sources available commercially. They have an important role in overall emissions reduction, but most homeowners rely on traditional water and energy sources with increasing consumption; this trend is expected to continue into 2040. The residential housing industry is bracing for changes to energy efficiency regulations in 2030. Emphasis is placed on technological advances that 'green' the envelope, mechanical and electrical systems. To increase the impact of these greening efforts Ideal Electric and Controls Inc. (IE) has hypothesized that by installing real time data dashboard that provides visual water and energy consumption plus waste water production will change behaviours enhancing the greening efforts. To explore this hypothesis, they have solicited the support of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) Green Building Technology (GBT) and the Centre for Innovative Information Technology Solutions (CIITS) to design and build a dashboard prototype. The data production will draw from basic electrical and mechanical flows. This web-based application will monitor specific flows of water and energy. Data will be gathered and compared to the historical consumption records.