Zerofootprint’s TalkingPlug will give you power over your power

How much energy does it take for your microwave to pop popcorn? Or for you to watch a feature-length film on your new flat screen TV?

New TalkingPlug devices, which fit on to any home electrical outlet, will be able to help you gauge how much energy each of your appliances and devices are using. The Toronto company Zerofootprint is currently creating TalkingPlugs, and expects to have them out soon. The company specializes in developing tools to monitor and reduce company and individual carbon footprints, according to its Web site.

TalkingPlug and similar products could revolutionize the way we think of home energy. Instead of the vague perspective monthly electric bills provide, TalkingPlug will allow consumers to reconfigure and refine the way they use electricity as often as they like. The technology will help people figure out which appliances need to be replaced and how to conserve energy productively on the rest.

The product and its software will allow users to track electric usage, as well as compare usage to others in the hopes that people will get into a friendly competition to see who can use the least, and save the most energy.

The plugs also allow you to turn off plugs on a timer in order to decrease phantom energy use, such as toasters with illuminated displays.

Zerofootprint CEO Ron Dembo said the TalkingPlug system is likely to cost around $50 at first, but will likely be cheaper once they’re mass produced.

Devices like Google’s PowerMeter already provide energy-reading services, but not in the same way. First, PowerMeters requires a much higher degree of electrical know-how in order to install. Secondly, it gives you a real-time reading on overall energy use, but not individual appliance. With a system like that, someone might end up replacing a refrigerator when their electric oven was the real energy hog, for example.

TalkingPlug, on the other hand, is as easy to install as a lamp. And if you’re like me, you can’t wait to see exactly how much power your computer is using right now compared to when it’s asleep compared to when just that one little light is left on.