The Contestants

Let's Talk About...Food

Lets Talk About Food — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:52:20 +0000

Contestant organization:

Food Forward

Venture partners:

The Living Kitchen Wellness Group

Red Gecko Productions

Laur Fisher

Describe your venture:

Purpose/Objective:

Let’s Talk About...Food is an exciting and engaging webseries that answers our basic food questions through exploring various conscious food businesses and movements in Toronto.

The purpose of Let’s Talk About...Food is to educate Torontonians on the basic food issues that affect and impact their daily lives.    The questions at hand will vary and always be relevant, such as: understanding how choosing strawberries laced with pesticides impacts their health or how their choice to buy a fairtrade cup of coffee allows farmers in a foreign country to earn a fair wage.

For many people who are already in the food industry, the answers to theses questions might be obvious, but to the average Torontonian it might be taboo to ask these questions.   For example: What does organic mean? How can I eat local during Toronto winters? How can I eat organically if I can’t afford it? What’s a CSA?

Through social media outlets and the Let’s Talk About…Food webseries, we aim to empower young Torontonians to make educated choices about their food, their health and their environment.

We aim to strengthen the food community within Toronto by introducing Torontonians to conscious food businesses and movements that they may have otherwise never found. This will increase support of these local businesses.

By bringing the attention to our own local food industry, this will increase the number of people eating organics and locally produced foods, reducing carbon emissions, as well transforming people’s lifestyle choice.

Who Will it Serve:
Let’s Talk About...Food aims to serve two major communities: young Torontonians and food conscious businesses and movements in Toronto.

Our target audience is young Torontonians in their 20’s and 30’s who are well versed in social technologies yet unaware of many of the food issues within their city. We will access this community using Twitter and Facebook, by asking them to post questions they have about the food system on their Facebook or Twitter feeds. We will base each webisode around these questions, talking to local food businesses and movements who can help provide the answers to these questions in an engaging way.

The webseries also works to serve the conscious food businesses and movements in Toronto, highlighting them in our episodes and allowing them to explain the importance of what they do, why they have an impact on Torontonians, and how Torontonians can get involved in these ventures. Although we plan on tackling many ‘heavy’ subjects around food issues, the webseries will be fun, light and engaging to capture viewer’s attentions. Let’s Talk About...Food aims to increase social awareness of these businesses and movements to impact the consumer market.

What is Unique and Innovative:

As mentioned above, Let’s Talk About...Food is a fun and engaging webseries that highlights and answers on-going food related questions by asking the conscious food businesses and movements in Toronto for answers. What’s really unique is that the webisodes are based on questions the viewers ask via Twitter and Facebook. Allowing the viewers to have a large part in creating the content for the webisodes works to serve the needs of the community and build advocacy around food simultaneously.

This project is revolutionary in that it utilizes social media and internet based education. The film aspect allows people to learn quickly and have immediate access to information from anywhere. With our lifestyle being face paced- people are reading less and watching more.

How It will Help Toronto:

Let’s Talk About...Food is a webseries that aims to bridge the gap between Toronto’s knowledgeable consumers and Toronto’s conscious businesses, therefore creating conscious consumers in Toronto. We plan on increasing social awareness of these conscious ventures and movements in Toronto, increasing support of the local economy.

The webseries also aims to transform people’s diets and lifestyles to support the health of Torontonians while simultaneously preventing illness and disease. Since this webseries has no borders or boundaries - it also allows other provinces and countries to know what Toronto is up to in terms of their food scene, impacting society on a macro scale. This will allow Toronto to be a leading force in healthy, sustainable, local food advocacy.

Emissions reduction potential:

Direct Impact on Reducing Carbon Emissions:
1. Local transportation: This project brings the focus to eating locally and reducing the distance that food travels as well as the costs and wastes involved in transport.

2. Organics: We focus on promoting clean sources of energy in regards to: water supply, seeds, pesticides, GMOs and chemicals.

3. Eating less meat: This project advocates and explores the importance of a vegetable- based diet and locally produced animal products. Not only does a vegetable based diet support optimal health, but it also supports reduced waste and reduced energy consumption.

We will also be looking at the local meat and dairy industry, and how that impacts consumers- in terms of more efficient use of transportation, increased nutrients and quality of food, as well as the reduced expenditure on antibiotics and hormones.

Indirect Impact on Reducing Carbon Emissions:
1. Preventative Health Care: By taking on nutritious food and eating habits, people are taking on their health, which supports disease prevention. This means reduced dependency on health care- which can decrease waste and the over use of medications. This impacts people’s health directly. People are more likely to live an active lifestyle if they are feeling better as a result of eating higher quality food.

2. Active Lifestyles: Moving the focus to local businesses and venues, makes it possible for people to walk more, cycle more, and use public transit- instead of driving far distances to get food.

3. Local Economy and Businesses: Educating people about local restaurants and food businesses will bring more money to the local economy.

The team:

The Living Kitchen Wellness Group- Tamara Green and Sarah Grossman
Role:
Interviewers/hosts in the film-series
Educators- educate about nutrition and health, advocate for healthy, local, sustainable and accessibly food
Connectors- connect the Toronto community to people in the food field

The Living Kitchen Wellness Group began over a shared passion for health, nutrition, cooking, gardening and our undying love for good food. As Certified Nutritional Practitioners we understand the connection between what people eat and the state of their health. We educate and empower people to be healthy, happy and excited about eating good, nutritious food.
We believe that nutrition is not just about cooking but is connected to everything from how our food is grown to our emotional and spiritual wellbeing. The Living Kitchen Wellness Group explores how nutrition, movement, gardening, and cooking support the body and mind by preventing illness, restoring health and maintaining overall vitality.

Our Values:

1. We bring joy to eating food.
2. We believe that every body needs different nutrients and foods. There is not one diet that is best for everyone and we all require something unique.
3. We always prepare and eat whole foods.

Push Food Forwad- Darcy Higgins
Role:
Interviewer in the film-series
Advocator- educate and advocate for healthy, local, sustainable food accessibility
Connector- connect the Toronto community to people in the food field

We are a collaborator, networker and supporter of Toronto's sustainable food movement and are thus connected and work with dozens of organizations and growing social ventures in Toronto and beyond. Our staff, board, advisors and volunteers come with a wealth of experience in community food security, policy and social change.

Darcy Higgins is the Executive Director of Food Forward. He has a background in food and environmental policy, advising politicians at all level. His writing, research and program management has contributed to climate, local food and community economic development strategies and programs in Toronto and beyond.

Food Forward Advocacy Alliance is a registered non-profit organization in Toronto that provides a people's voice for a better food system. We work with the public, politicians and those involved in the food sector to educate and advocate for food that is healthy, local, sustainable, ethically produced and accessible for all.

There are several organizations in Toronto committed to improving people's health, the environment and animal welfare by growing and distributing good food. We want to help the positive projects in the City multiply and become mainstream, by pointing out the problems in the modern food system and providing a recipe for change at City Hall.

The organization has 3 main areas of focus:

1. Educating - through public forums, workshops, web and social media;

2. Advocate - making the case for policy change, educating local politicians, mobilizing public interest;

3. Connect - identifying networking and collaboration opportunities in the food movement and doing capacity building, linking and social events.

Red Gecko Productions- Jan Keck
Role:
Filmmaker, Cinematographer and Storyteller

Red Gecko is Jan Keck. A Documentary Filmmaker, Cinematographer & Photographer.
Whether documentary filmmakers looking to round out their crew or professionals in need of a video,
Jan’s clients use the same three words to describe him.

“He’s a storyteller.”
Everyone knows that stories are what our audiences want, and that a well-told tale changes the way people think and act.
As a documentary filmmaker, Jan knows how to tell authentic stories with lasting visual impact.

“He understands the entire process.”
Jan can do it all, from planning through delivery of a finished product. His end-to-end knowledge means you’re in good hands.
And if he’s only doing part of the project, he’s always thinking about what the next guy needs, too.

“He’s part of my team.”
Jan works closely with his clients. He understands the importance of relationships and research — before work begins,
he takes time to understand you and the assignment. And ensures that the end product works within — and enhances — your existing framework.
- Audiovisual Media (B.Eng // University of Media, Stuttgart)
- Documentary Organization of Canada
- Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto

Laur Fisher
Role:
Carbon Emissions Consultant

Laur has over six years experience building sustainability projects and programs in the United States, New Zealand, Sweden, and Canada. She has worked with both the public and private sectors in the development, reporting and communications of sustainability projects, focusing on carbon management, green building, energy efficiency, and waste reduction.

She also has leadership training in group facilitation, and has co-led and supported workshops with The Natural Step and other organizations. She holds a self-designed Bachelor’s degree in Sustainability from Tufts University in Boston, MA.

Currently Laur works at the Canada Green Building Council – Greater Toronto Chapter, is a volunteer for CivicAction’s Project Neutral, award recipient of the Centre for Social Innovation, and member of the Emerging Leader’s Network. A creative as well as technical thinker, we bring Laur onboard to measure and effectively communicate the carbon impact of our project.

Seeking collaborators:

Yes

Potential collaborators should contact :

Sarah Grossman, [email protected], 647-830-3860

How will you ensure your project is self supporting within five years?:

We will ensure that this project is self-supporting in 3 ways:

1. Sponsored Episodes and Advertisements - We ask businesses and movements in Toronto to sponsor episodes (especially ones that are directly related to them) and post quick advertisement within the webseries and on the Let’s Talk About...Food website.

2. Donations - We will have a donations section on the Let’s Talk About...Food website for viewers and businesses to make donations to the webseries.

3. Paid Content - We will create additional content that will benefit viewers of the webseries that will be paid content. The viewer can choose to pay for the content and access the additional, valuable resources.

Further information:

Red-Gecko Productions

Food Forward

The Living Kitchen Wellness Group

Tags:

food

education

Empowerment

community

Excitement

organic

Local food

How did you hear about ClimateSpark?:

Gonzalo Riva

Green Condo Living Toronto

Meredith Cochrane — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:53:26 +0000

Contestant organization:

EcoSpark

Venture partners:

None at present.

Describe your venture:

We propose increasing the ability of builders and decision-makers at condominiums across Toronto to engage with local opportunities to decrease carbon emissions. This will be achieved through both behavioural and infrastructural green solutions, and will result in the following:

Reduction in carbon emissions from buildings across Toronto through day-to-day management decisions, renovation of currently built condos and eco-conscious planning for future condo builds;
Property managers, builders, architects, and condo boards knowledgeable in local opportunities for carbon emission reduction;
Property managers and builders able to market their buildings’ environmental credentials, an increasingly attractive feature to a young population of potential residents;
Condominium residents and condo boards knowledgeable about how they can contribute to reduced carbon emissions; and
Sustainable source of income for partners involved.

This will be achieved through a flexible course that provides EcoCondo Certification to property managers, builders, architects and members of condominium boards. This will be followed up with support and advice as required.

EcoCondo Certification does not reinvent the wheel - it draws on the strengths and opportunities that exist in our city. There are existing opportunities in the form of resources, expert organizations and rebates, which focus on one specific area of greening. Initial research indicates that property managers and builders struggle to identify the local expertise necessary to design, build and maintain buildings in a deeply eco-conscious way. The EcoCondo Certification course will educate participants about opportunities that exist and how they can be accessed.

Experience and research has indicated that there are existing initiatives for educating property managers and architects in sustainability, but none that simultaneously:

Focus specifically on carbon emissions;
Integrate behavioural and infrastructure solutions that can be implemented both pre-construction and post-construction; and
Focus specifically on solutions available in the Toronto area.

With hundreds of condominiums existing around Toronto, and many more coming online each year, connection to these supports is essential.

Potential customers include the following:

Individuals involved in the planning and construction of new condo developments – this includes property owners, designers, architects, and builders;
Individuals involved in decision-making around the maintenance/renovation of pre-existing condos – this includes property owners/managers and condo boards.

Through the process of certification, customers will:

Develop a knowledge base on a wide range of topics (see below);
Receive an ‘EcoCondo Bible’ of existing resources, expert organizations and rebates which they can draw on in the Toronto area;
Gain knowledge on how to source and assess eco-friendly materials (ranging from building/landscaping materials to cleaning products);
Gain skills as well as receive support in engaging and educating condominium residents on environmental issues;
In consultation with stakeholders, identify one initial project for which implementation will begin immediately;
Understand the financial investment required for various initiatives as well as the benefits (both environmental and long-term financial);
Access methods of measuring emission reductions;
Develop skills in communicating environmental benefits to both Property Managers and residents; and
Develop a network of support and knowledge-sharing with fellow participants.

Examples of environmental topics that will be covered include:

1. Transportation (e.g. idle free zones, bike racks)

2. Landscaping (e.g. native , drought-resistant plants, smart watering system)

3. Energy conservation in common areas

4. Energy conservation in individual units

5. Waste disposal and recycling

6. Eco-friendly construction materials

7. Eco-friendly products (e.g. cleaning products for common areas, paint)

8. Reducing paper use

9. Green roofs

10. Water conservation

Just as we recognize that there are other resources and opportunities upon which participants can and should draw, we also recognize that we can strengthen the delivery of our course through partnering with organizations with expertise in the above mentioned areas. Through the Live Green Toronto Community Animation Program, we have become experts on opportunities, resources, and expertise available in the Toronto area. We will work with these established networks as well as new ones, to bring in experts from other SMEs and NGOs.

Emissions reduction potential:

EcoSpark has significant experience in facilitating the reduction of emissions as well as accurately measuring those reductions.

Since 2005, we have run Wattwize, a program through which students lead conservation initiatives within their schools. We are required to report on GHGs saved as a result of the program. As an example, the 2010 Wattwize program resulted in reduction of 290, 611.2kg of GHGs.

We also assisted the City of Toronto to develop a means of measuring emission reductions resulting from activities that community members undertook through the Live Green Toronto Community Animation program. This document will be used as one of the tools to measure emission reductions.

We will track both infrastructural changes and behavioural changes through evaluations conducted with participants in the EcoCondo Certification program after three months, one year and three years. We will secure emission reduction figures to attach to each of the changes undertaken. Examples are below. Some aspects such as behavioural changes amongst tenants will need to be secured through a resident survey which we will conduct and cross reference with any trainings conducted with residents.

Over the long term, we can assess the impact of the course by comparing the footprint of buildings built and/or maintained by course participants to those not educated in eco-conscious building and maintenance. This will give us a clearer indication of the degree to which we are “tipping the needle” on emissions across the city.

Examples

Idle free zones and bike racks will directly reduce the burning of fossil fuels in the City of Toronto. In fact, if idling at one condo building is reduced by a total of just 10 minutes a day (cumulative of all cars), emissions will be reduced by over 250kg over the course of a year. (10 min. idling = . 0.3 L of gas x 365 x 2.3 kg CO2e/L = 251.85 kg CO2e)

Sources: www.toronto.ca/taf/quant_policy_approach.htm and http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportation/idling/wastes.cfm?attr=16

If safe and sheltered bike racks are installed, building residents will use this mode of transportation more often. A reduction of 1000 km of travel on a bike per year is 1000 km less automobile travel. That alone will reduce fuel use by approximately 79 Litres. For every resident that decreases their automobile travel by 1000km, emissions will be reduced by 181.7 kg. (7.9 Litres of gas per 100km) (7.9 L x 10 x 2.3 kg COe/L = 181.7 kg CO2e)

source: www.toronto.ca/taf/quant_policy_approach.htm and

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/publications/transportation/fuel-guide/2011/energuide-label.cfm?attr=8

Reducing electricity and natural gas use are also popular methods of achieving a local reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and are popular with business and residential customers alike for their cost savings. Condos can participate both on a unit by unit basis and through conservation measures in common areas. Turning off only one regular tube fixture for twelve hours per day will reduce emissions by 40.1 kg. (54W x 12hr x 364d = 235.9 KWh) and (235.9 x 0.17 kg CO2e/KWh = 40.1 kg CO2e)

Source: EcoSpark

The team:

EcoSpark is the lead partner in the multi-million dollar, multi-year Live Green Toronto Community Animation program. This program is currently in its third year. We will be drawing on the organizational and staff experience, skills, knowledge and networks gained through this program.

One or more of our Community Animation staff will be contributing to Green Condo Living Toronto. They have extensive networks of green organizations across the city and are experts in community engagement. They will therefore assist with this component of the course.

Meredith Cochrane, EcoSpark’s Executive Director, has extensive experience in program development, funding and expansion. Examples include: the establishment of an education program that was delivered to 400 schools within 18 months of the launch date; and management of a campaign that in two years, increased from being run in 120 towns, to 350 and expanded to over a dozen other countries. Meredith also has significant experience in communications, media and marketing with organizations in Canada and the UK. She has developed and managed productive teams of up to 18 staff.

Ben Stevenson holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree and has worked in the solar energy industry and in community settings on training and education initiatives. He recently completed a contract with EcoSpark, training and mentoring high schools students as they created short films on environmental topics, and developing curriculum support materials on solar power for younger students. Ben’s knowledge extensive knowledge and networks as well as experience of training and resource development will be valuable to the enterprise.

Linda Thomson has many years of experience in administration and financial management for non-profit organizations. In her current position as EcoSpark’s Financial Administrator, she oversees the organization’s fiscal operations, produces financial reports, builds relationships with vendors and suppliers, and monitors contract fulfillment. Linda brings research, policy development, and organizational skills and financial expertise that will be essential to the enterprise’s establishment and smooth running.

We will be seeking a full time course coordinator.

Seeking collaborators:

Yes

Potential collaborators should contact :

Please contact Meredith Cochrane at [email protected] or on 647 258 3280 ext. 2005.

How will you ensure your project is self supporting within five years?:

It is estimated that the gross income per course will be $60,000. Within five years we anticipate running the course a minimum of four times per year with a minimum net income of $120,000. With hundreds of existing condominiums and more being built all the time, there is a huge market amongst our identified customer base. Furthermore, there is an opportunity for geographical expansion beyond Toronto.

The key to success of Green Condo Living Toronto is marketing, reputation, and results. While some marketing will be done through flyers and print advertising, the majority of marketing will take place through associations and networks – both those that EcoSpark currently has and those that we plan to establish during the first phase of development.

We will track results in terms of carbon emissions and any financial savings through evaluations with participants after three months, one year, and three years. We will produce internal reports for learning and improvement as well as external reports as a marketing tool.

Tags:

condominium

environmental

carbon emission reductions

How did you hear about ClimateSpark?:

Email circular

my.bbq.ca

MealExchange — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:26:16 +0000

Contestant organization:

Meal Exchange

Venture partners:

Meal Exchange is a national student-founded, youth-driven, registered charity organized to address local hunger by mobilizing the talent and passion of students. Since 1993, our programs have been run in over 75 communities across Canada and generated donations of over $3 million worth of food and funds to address local hunger.

Our Mission: is to engage, educate, and mobilize youth to work with their communities in order to alleviate hunger locally and achieve food security.

Our Vision: is a country where everyone has access to safe, nutritious, affordable food.

Describe your venture:

In 2010, Meal Exchange developed National BBQ Day for the purpose of reaching people outside of our network, people who are just beginning to explore food issues. The goal of the campaign is to encourage people to hold a BBQ with locally purchased food in support of their local food economies. One of the barriers for the general public Iack of awareness of where they can purchase locally produced food.

By simply providing an online platform for people to find and purchase locally grown food in their area, my.bbq.ca will reduce demand for food grown and shipped in from longer distances -- as well as for food grown with little regard for surrounding ecosystems or human health.

In Phase I of this social enterprise, we will focus on expanding the campaign in the GTA by piloting the licensing of National BBQ Day to local businesses. For a fee, they will be profiled on the my.bbq.ca and receive in-store promotional material. The goal is to increase exposure of these vendors to a new audience and increase foot-traffic in their stores.

Encouraging a larger urban consumer base to ‘vote with their fork’ and shift to a local food economy, we can advance the case for supporting local farmers which leads to job creation and the increased food security of our region.

Emissions reduction potential:

National BBQ day has the potential to reduction emissions by increasing the average Canadian’s
propensity to purchase local food while utilizing the most efficient methods of transportation used by
mid- large scale grocery chains.

Currently Canada imports about half the food we consume, a percentage that if decreased would result
in a significant reduction in emissions. According to Rich Pirog, the associate director of the Leopold
Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, the conventional food distribution system
uses 4 -17 times more fuel and creates 5-17 times more CO2 than local and regional food systems.
He also estimated that replacing imported food in city the size of Waterloo with local food would be
equivalent to taking 16,191 cars off the road.

How local food is distributed is also an important consideration and why we think National Barbeque
day is so affective at reducing emissions. The project targets mid to large grocery store chain that use
high efficiency transportation methods to bring local produce to their location. For example a pick-
up truck produces more than 10 times the emission than a transport truck, which produces 10 times
more emissions than rain. A mid to large scale grocery store that utilizes high efficiency transportation
methods has the greatest potential to reduce emissions.

National BBQ day has the potential to increases the propensity for the average consumer to purchase
local produce, and because the targeted retailers used high efficiency transportation methods, the
individual reduction of emission would be closer to the a 17 fold reduction mentioned above.

The team:

Meal Exchange is the lead organizer for this venture. We currently rely on our current network of over 15,000 individuals, 250 non-profit organizations and 20 companies to support our work. Already confirmed for National BBQ Day 2012 is Niagara winery, Chateau des Charmes as a sponsor.

Dave Kranenburg, the Executive Director for Meal Exchange founded the University of Guelph chapter in 1997, was a founding member of the Board of Directors. He serves on the management team for Food Secure Canada and an Associate Member of the Toronto Food Policy Council.

Seeking collaborators:

Yes

Potential collaborators should contact :

Dave Kranenburg: [email protected]

How will you ensure your project is self supporting within five years?:

In 2012, the goal will be to license 25 retailers in the GTA as a social enterprise pilot. In its second year, we will expand licensing to local manufacturers and expand retailer licensing to the province of Ontario. By 2014 we intend to license retailers and manufacturers in communities across Canada.

Further information:

National BBQ Day 2011 Report

Tags:

food security

Local food

bbq

How did you hear about ClimateSpark?:

From a friend

Hot Kitchen Collective

HandaPaduada — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:13:50 +0000

Contestant organization:

Handa&Paduada

Venture partners:

Centre for Social Innovation Food Constellation, Toronto.

Describe your venture:

[email protected]">
There is a dire need for commercial kitchen space in the city. Many small food entrepreneurs are emerging with stunning food products but in order to comply with Toronto public health regulations, they need, among other things, to prepare their food in a commercially inspected kitchen. Trouble is that there are few such kitchens available and those that do exist are often over-booked and rather expensive for the small scale producer. The Hot Kitchen Collective is an idea whose time has come. Instead of building new commercial kitchens, the Hot Kitchen Collective program seeks to make use of under-used industrially outfitted kitchens. Where are they? In our local churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and community centres. By offering a booking platform, the Hot Kitchen Collective program can make these kitchens available for bookings to food entrepreneurs and others working in the Good Food Sector. Places in the city with kitchen facilities to rent would pay a registration fee that would cover the costs of posting their space on the website, contracts that they could enter into with clients interested in using their space, and any consulting necessary to get their kitchens up to code to comply with municipal regulations. Clients booking the kitchen would pay by credit card on the site only when they rent a kitchen (no joining fee), and a small booking fee would be collected for each booking and that revenue would help defray the costs of running the website and program.

Emissions reduction potential:

[email protected]">
The project reduces energy use in the form of petrol for transportation of industrial food products by supplanting these products and their huge carbon footprints with locally produced often artisanal products produced in the city's existing kitchens, thereby making them more affordable and accessible. It also reduces waste by reducing the unnecessary heating and cooling of empty kitchens. These kitchens will no longer be underused. And the project also shifts demand from unaffordable commercial kitchen construction to affordable hot kitchen rentals by recognizing existing capacity and harnessing it for social and environmental good. It is well documented that much of the traffic on our roads is due to the transport of food, especially in the industrial food sector. Often the foods we purchase in the supermarket are long distance travelers with huge carbon footprints. We buy plenty of foreignly produced products: salamis and cheeses, pickles and jams, but even in the Canadian made foods, ingredients have often criss-crossed the country before arriving in our kitchens. It doesn't have to be that way.

The team:

The team includes the leads Aruna Handa and Mike Paduada. We are consulting with members of the CSI Food Constellation, many of whom are anxious to see this project come online so that they can solve the barriers to their success in the lack of affordable commercial kitchen space. We are consulting with people like Alvin Rebick who runs a hot kitchen at FoodShare (where Aruna is a board member) and with others in the province who are also keen to resolve this issue. We are in contact with Toronto Public Health about the regulations and are considering partnering with various organizations keen to see this project come alive.

Seeking collaborators:

Yes

Potential collaborators should contact :

Please contact: [email protected]

How will you ensure your project is self supporting within five years?:

The project will be self-sustaining by skimming a booking fee off each kitchen booking. The project has the potential to become a template for similar initiatives in other cities and the website has the potential to become a booking platform to connect spaces for rent with people seeking spaces for various purposes. In addition, while no fee to join will be charged to the clients looking to book space, a fee will be levied to those seeking to post their spaces on the site to cover the expense of inspecting their premises, categorizing it for the website's purposes, providing contracts and handling the administration of the rental fees paid. This fee is also a source of revenue to keep the venture financially self-sufficient.

We anticipate running the project in a pilot mode in the first stage, and then once the wrinkles have been ironed out, scaling up perhaps in stages until we are city-wide. And then we'd investigate the possibilities of broadening our scope to include other cities and possibly other countries.

Tags:

Kitchens Food Capacity-building

How did you hear about ClimateSpark?:

word of mouth

Flowdown (by watersaveco)

dballantyne — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:18:49 +0000

Contestant organization:

Innoserv

Venture partners:

Civic Ventures - a non-profit organization created for the purposes of building and re-investing in commuity infrastructure including housing

Innoserv - a taxable soar aggregation company working with non-profit organizations on the installation of solar PV owned by four non-profit organizations related to the production and delivery of housing - proceeds are used to further sustainability programs, in particular in social housing communities

Globe Inc. - the smart energy initiative of the Social Housing Services Corp.

DKGI Inc. - real estate and housing consultants

Describe your venture:

Venture partners: Civic Ventures, Globe, DKGI Inc.

Contact person: Derek Ballantyne

What is the project?

Flowdown’s project aims to reduce water consumption in older apartment buildings by 25% over a 5 year period. Targeted to high-rise buildings owned and operated by private landlords, Flowdown can, over time, be extended to the Golden Horseshoe area.

Potable water consumption has three impacts on the environment –

impact on fresh water source supplies (aquifers and surface water systems);
energy consumed in treating potable and waste water;
chemical impacts from water treatment.

Reducing water consumption has a beneficial impact in all three areas.

How does it work?

Flowdown will contract with interested landlords to reduce water consumption in their buildings by:

installing an electronic water meter
measuring water usage and variations including leakage
reducing behind the meter leakage
installing water saving features
monitoring results and re-commissioning systems where necessary

Flowdown will provide:

the ability to analyze and determine where water leakage / high consumption exists
develop business-case approaches for each building
capitalize the necessary work to achieve savings
Idea is to capitalize the water reductions
share in the savings achieved to achieve a return on investment
re-deploy earned funds to green programs
train and employ people living in the communities where the program is targeted – creating green jobs, transferable skills, and local economic development impact

Why is this good for the environment and is a sustainable business?

Toronto consumes close to 400,000 Mega Litres (ML) per year. 438 billion litres are treated each year. A little over half of this consumption is from residential usage. A reduction in 1 ML in consumption not only reduced the impact on source supply, but also results in an estimated reduction of 0.31 tonnes of CO2. Reducing both consumption and treatment extends the life of current infrastructure and creates less impact on the built environment.

Assuming that Flowdown can reach 10,000 units (a modest number of older multi-unit buildings) the water consumption savings are conservatively estimated at over 100 ML.

This will result in a saving of 3.1 tonnes CO2 per annum
Specific savings to each building owner in the Toronto area
A business employing up to 20 people including installers
A business that will then expand the energy efficiency options of multi residential buildings

Why older apartment buildings?

There are close to 1,000 older concrete high-rise structures in Toronto, and close to 2,000 in the Golden Horseshoe area. The deficiencies and the need for capital investment in these buildings are well documented through the work of the Tower Renewal initiatives. Some buildings will be refurbished; others will have energy improvements made driven by need for renewal of mechanical equipment and an ability to raise and invest capital to achieve long term reductions in operating costs. Few buildings have targeted water consumption in particular, despite there being a good business case for it, and the ability to have impact without major building system changes.

Owners and operators of older high-rise and mid-rise buildings often do not have the capital available to invest in energy and water efficiency improvements. Capex spending is constrained by revenues, and in some cases competing demands for limited revenues. Providing landlords with an ability to make operating improvements (and therefore cost reductions) with no impact on their operating revenues and draw on capital resources is an important condition to gaining acceptance of the need and desirability of making these improvements.

Assuming that Flowdown can reach 10,000 units (a modest number of older multi-unit buildings) the water consumption savings are conservatively estimated at over 100 ML. This is likely an underestimation of efficiencies that can be achieved. The City of Toronto has estimated savings of about 64 m3 of water per suite per year using 6 litre/flush ultra low flow toilet. At a rate of $2 /m3, the annual savings per suite is about $128. Rate is expecting to escalate at 9% annually for multi-res owner. Assuming an install cost of $250 (contractor labour and materials), it will be payback in 2 years. This installed cost will be lower where materials can be bulk purchased and large scale changes planned in a coordinated fashion.

What is the evidence this works?

The City of Toronto Water has documented the impact of water efficiency improvements and the impact on GHG emissions. Over the past several years, Toronto Community housing has implemented a water program that measures building consumption (and leakage), implements in suite and building system improvements, and monitors the results. These results are significant – in some cases water consumption savings as high as 35%.

There are two distinct areas of water consumption in multi-unit buildings: in-suite and building plumbing and mechanical systems. Experience shows that while in-suite improvements are relatively easy to make, the efficiency results must be sustained by regular monitoring and re-commissioning of toilets, shower heads, etc. Building systems are not generally examined for water efficiency. Toronto Community housing discovered that in its older multi-unit buildings there was significant system “leakage” through malfunctioning valves, plumbing problems and related system issues. By monitoring water consumption through sub-meters, building system leakage can be detected and corrected.

What is the planned approach?

Flowdown will contract with interested landlords at the outset. Flowdown will, at its own expense analyze the building, develop a business plan, and provided that there is a threshold saving to be achieved, initiative the water efficiency work in conjunction with the landlord. Flowdown will have at risk its initial analysis work, and the cost of improvements up to the point of repayment through savings achieved.

Why are landlords not doing this on their own?

There are limited City programs to encourage water efficiency. The recent elimination of rebates for high efficiency toilets, and operating cuts that impact education programs have limited the ability of the City to change consumption through incentive and influence. As noted above, landlords have competing demands for Capex investment, and water efficiencies do not generally rise high enough on a priority list to be implemented, and therefore the environmental impacts achieved (as well as landlord savings in operating costs).

Why Flowdown?

Flowdown is an initiative to commercialize a portion of the water efficiency investments that can be made in Toronto. The goal of all parties is to generate environmental benefits, as well as a revenue stream that is re-invested in environmental improvements in residential buildings, and in particular in the non-profit housing sector, which has limited or no access to capital for environmental upgrades.

Next steps

There is ample evidence that water efficiency provides sufficient savings to offset capital costs required to achieve these savings. The avoided cost of water consumption will accelerate over time as water rates are planned to rise in Toronto.

Three key areas of this idea need testing:

What is the potential market and how is it best defined?
What are the legal and operating structures required to achieve the goals of Flowdown and engage willing participants in the building owner/operator community?
Detailed analysis of sample buildings to develop the business and financial models.

Can it be financially sustainable?

Evidence that significant savings can be achieved from water efficiency in multi-unit residential buildings is clear. The challenge is to have the ability to determine how to achieve these savings economicially and to have sufficient capital to leverage these savings.

Flowdown will require start up funds to complete market research and develop the technology and business partnership model to implement with building owners and operators. Direct investment capital can be leveraged on the basis of the proven savings and by subordinating these to third party lenders if required. Given a sufficient volume of up-take and the relatively quick generation of a positive cash flow form savings, it is estimated that Flowdown can operate on a positive cashflow basis within two years, and within four years generate income surpluses for re-investment in sustainability initiatives. Further testing of the models, and assessment of two or three sample buildings, combined with the already existing data on water efficiency will allow Flowdown to complete a full scale business plan. This plan can then be "bench-tested" on a building, with incremental implementation once the appropriate methodologies are fine tuned. This approach reduces risk of putting out a large amount of capital on un-tested approaches, and allows some portion of the initial work to be funded form realized cash-flows.

The venture team is led by well seasoned managers, with experience project conception, project deveopment, operational management and financial management in start up enterprises. In further development of the business plan, there may be an advantage to seeking out additonal technology or financing partners, willing to share in the capital risk for a portion of the proceeds.

Where is the innovation?

The technologies and approaches to be used in Flowdown are not new. What is innovative is the collaboration between non-profit and for profit (but non-profit motivated) entities that are pushing to occupy a business space that has currently has few players in. The opportunity to generate environmental impact together with the potential to raise additional funds for future initiatives is based on leveraging the skills, experience and commitment of players in a variety of organizations. This project will, on a commercial basis, deliver results that governments have been relied on to achieve but are no longer able or willing to fund.

Emissions reduction potential:

As noted above, the project has three environmental outcomes:

- reduced CO2 and other GHG (reduced energy consumption) from reduced water treatment - 1 ML eliminates 0.31 tonnes of CO2 - conservatively the program estimates it is possible to eliminate between 100 and 200 M Lin annual consumption (actual estimates require refining in conjunction with Toronto Water and other authorites - some projections show savings at a much higher level than these listed)

- reduce impact on source water supplies

- reduce use of chemicals in water treatment - pre and post use

The team:

The principals in the organizations teamed up for this initiative have all collaborated on projects tin the past - but this is the first time all parties are engaged in the same initiative. The team leaders have experience in the design and implementation of energy efficiency programs, and operationalizing programs once these are designed.

All team members have a deep commitment to creating more sustainable environments, and in finding ways to reduce the environmental footprint in Toronto.

Innoserv has the experience in the energy and sustainability sector as a company engaged in the delivery of solar PV in partnership with other for-profit interests. led by Colin Caie, Innoserv has a mandate to expand its range of activities beyond solar PV and to accelerate sustainability in the multi-unit residential market, including social housing. Innoserv will be the lead on the operational side of the initiative and working to ensure a commercial approach to delivery.

Globe Inc. has experience in the training and support for green workers though its collaboration in delivery of energy saving programs in Toronto and other communities, funded through LCD's and OPG. Globe is a non-profit with the objective of increasing sustainability across the province, working in particular with low income communities and social housing providers. Globe will work to identify and train workers in the water efficiency jobs, and assist in supporting these workers through the project.

Seeking collaborators:

Yes

Potential collaborators should contact :

Derek ballantyne [email protected]

How will you ensure your project is self supporting within five years?:

The business model proposed will see the project being self-supporting within two years, based on acquiring sufficient start up funds to develop and refine the business plan and implementation technologies, and to sample test the approach to be used

Shared savings in water efficiency are used to repay capital and to generate surplus revenues. These surpluses are then re-invested in new projects (reducing the need for new capital, eventually forming a sufficient cash flow to sustain the operations and provide new seed capital for other sustainability initiatives.

As there is a contracted income stream available once there are 5 to 10 buildings under contract, funds can be borrowed based on the available cash flow. This will be the bridge between the start-up phase funded through grants and equity investments, and the mature business model.

Civic Ventures will have overall coordination and project management responsibilities, along with DKGI Inc.

How did you hear about ClimateSpark?:

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CSR+ Urban Organic Recycling Project

JKAshbee — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:43:07 +0000

Contestant organization:

CSR+ Vermicast Industries Inc.

Venture partners:

Fresh City Farms

Environmental Property Innovation Corp (EPIC)

Describe your venture:

The CSR+ Urban Organic Recycling Project is a process that returns what we now call organic waste back to the soil. Currently most organic waste is eliminated rather than recycled into a highly effective soil amendment. The elimination is by landfill or incineration in what is commonly known as waste to energy processes. Some is composted but in Toronto most of the compost facilities are many miles away as far as the Quebec border and Boston Mass. Nature intends for organic waste to be returned to the soil in some manner to increase the soil fertility and thereby continue the process of providing high quality food supply. Organic discards are NOT in fact waste but rather an asset. Much like the introduction of the blue box many years ago focused on the value of things we were discarding, a renewed focus now needs to be generated as it relates to organics. The CSR+ system is fully scalable and can process organics at the point of waste creation or very near to that point. The need to transport organic waste is therefore eliminated reducing the carbon foot print. The output, worm castings is a highly effective soil amendment that can then be used close to where it was created in either urban farming enterprises or in neighbouring farming communities. The entire focus is to process organic waste close to the point of creation and use the output close to the point of production.

CSR+ Vermicast Industries has worked closely with engineering, science specialist and the end user to create a unit that is very user friendly and requiring minimal client intervention.

The CSR+ organic recycling processes are multi stage within a sealed unit. Any organics requiring recycling are deposited into a hopper at ground level. When the hopper is full, the organics are chopped and elevated for deposit into the top of the WormWorks unit. The chopped biomass is analyzed by an on board data collection system to ensure all the correct parameters are met for the process to perform properly. The collected data is wirelessly uplinked so the CSR+'s science support staff can monitor the unit for correct operation. Outside monitoring means all technical aspects are maintained to ensure an optimum and health environment for the worms. Additionally due to the design, the system will not require users to be "worm farmers" and the installation of a WormWorks system will streamline labor at the customers site. If any data is not correct a quick call from the monitoring station to the customer can correct an issue. Gradually the biomass is transformed into a suitable worm food. The worms then participate to stabilize the biomass, their excretion being worm castings. The biomass moves from top to bottom with castings discharging through a harvest system. The system is totally self contained maintaining the biomass in an aerobic state resulting in no offensive odours. The units are also infestation and vermin proof. The unit is fully insulated and could operate outside. The standard unit to handled 2000 kg of organics per week is 4 feet high, and 5 foot square requiring a small footprint. The unit is manufactured using the finest corrosive resistant material ensure 15 year life. The air control system and irrigation systems uses minimal power and can operate using the electrical mains or by solar panels. The WormWorks unit is available and export ready.

Emissions reduction potential:

From a GHG perspective, the actual worst case scenario is displacing organic waste already

going to composters.. A strong qualitative case can be made for GHG emission reductions from CSR+ Vermicast’s product compared to regular

composting. The following are some key advantages of CSR+ Vermicast’s product over composting:

1. Displacement of Nitrogen based fertilizers

2. Decreased water use for agricultural application (5-10x reduction over traditional

fertilizers

3. Less transportation

4. More anaerobic digestion occurs in traditional composters compared to Vermicast’s

product (anaerobic digestion creates significantly more methane than aerobic digestion)

The team:

John Ashbee, Founder, has held management positions with several private and public companies, most recently, reWorks Inc. John has for a number of years been involved in promoting start-up ventures employing vermicasting technology. He is active in promoting corporate sustainability with a particular emphasis on supporting sustainable agricultural production. After a career that has taken him to the UK, Australia, South Africa, and the US, Mr. Ashbee brings extensive knowledge of soil amendments distribution, marketing, and the capital markets to CSRplus. John graduated from Ryerson University as a Mechanical Technologist with an Aeronautic specialty. John extends his commitment to the environmental awareness by lecturing at the high school level and most recently at Trent University in Peterborough

Thomas Christiansen, Vice President Business Development brings to the company 20 years of sales and marketing experience with a focus in the food service industry. Thomas is a competitive leader, experienced in management, inspiration and development of a national sales team. He is experienced in procurement of profitable business, senior level account penetration and client retention. Past experience has been in the creation of Area Development networks with franchising. Thomas is a graduate of Seneca College with a 3 year diploma in International Business.

Arunav Misra, Vice President, Sciences and Technology has 15 years of continuous advancement and expertise in waste management technical applications, products, R&D engineering with experience in both anerobic and aerobic digestion processes. Arunav was recognized as Innovator of India in 2007 by DSIR, Government of India, for research and development of Worm Compost to treat Medical Waste. He received the 2009 National Udyog Ratna Award & Certificate of Excellence with Gold Medal from the Economic Growth Society of India and was nominated for the Millennium Excellence Award for Quality with Gold Medal in 2009. Arunav has a Masters Degree in Engineering with specialty in Public Health Engineering.

Frank Shields, Soil Specialist. Scientific and Quality Control Officer. Frank Shields brings over 30 years of professionally recognized soil science expertise to CSRplus Vermicast Industries Inc. He has made significant and extensive contributions to the field of compost testing, and has an extensive background in the testing of agricultural soils, potting mixes, drinking water, irrigation water and waste waters. Frank has made significant contributions to the standards established by the US Council on Composting and in 2004 he was awarded the Rufus Chaney award for his continued display of excellence in compost research.

Venkataswamy Reddy MSc (Agri), PGDRDM, Scientific and Quality Control Officer. Mr. Reddy has 13 years experience in the agricultural field of production, process management and cultivation with a focus on organic production and pest management. His background with several institutions in India combined with his formal education, Master in Science in Agriculture with a nutrient focus, provides a dynamic scientific dimension to the organization.

Seeking collaborators:

Yes

Potential collaborators should contact :

9054878442

How will you ensure your project is self supporting within five years?:

We have completed the financial modeling which indicates positive cash flow within the first 12 months. This is guaranteed by organic waste contracts which have been completed. This guaranteed source of raw inbound material assures profitability within the 12 month period. The process is scalable so larger volumes of organics can be processed by the addition of additional processing lines. In conjunction with the company operating a larger organic recycling program we intent marketing our on-site organic digester across Canada and the USA through our network of sales representatives.

The company offers three purchase packages, outright sale, lease to own and rental. We also offer a worm castings buy back plan for those clients who do not have an inhouse use or market for the worm castings.

Tags:

Recycling Organics

vermicomposting

Worm Castings

Returning organics to the soil. Urban Farming

Food Sustainability

No Green House Gasses

How did you hear about ClimateSpark?:

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The Permablitz

TPPGTA — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:39:46 +0000

Contestant organization:

The Permaculture Project GTA

Describe your venture:

What is a PermaBlitz?A Permablitz is based on the principles of Permaculture (permanent agriculture) which arose during the 1970s in response to Peak Oil.

A Permablitz is when people come together to achieve the following:

- create or add to edible gardens where someone lives
- share skills related to permaculture and sustainable living
- build community networks
- have fun

The TPPGTA has a unique model for the permablitz

Here are the Defining characteristics of the TPPGTA permablitz

Design Process. Permaculture design means creating sustainable human settlements that mimic nature. The design method can be applied to anything from backyard garden systems that ensure that the garden continues to be viable and productive to community development creating workshops for positive growth.
Peer Review. Prior to the PermaBlitz , TPPGTA encourages burgeoning and expert permaculturalists to come together to design a garden. We conduct design ‘peer-review’ processes to encourage skill sharing and harness the collective wisdom of the TPPGTA.
Sourcing / Scavenging. Once a design has been agreed-upon, the PermaBlitz host goes about sourcing materials. Volunteer attendees are encouraged to bring with them what they can and to take with them knowledge, materials available that day and other valuable resources.

On the day of the blitz:

All the elements come together, the design, the site plan, the people and the transformation! With our method, Nothing is overlooked allowing us to change the space in 1 day! (Blitz)
The host provides lunch and nibbles for those working in the space. So once implement the design we all celebrate our skill sharing and success with music and food! Volunteers are encouraged to bring along a plate of food to share. As well live music is arranged whenever possible.

And when the blitz is complete, we...

Party and Feast! Nothing like a feast with friends after a day in the dirt.

Post Blitz:

Ongoing reflection and improvement in order to ensure ongoing viability of the initiative. Gardens are revisited in the months following the Permablitz to see what has and hasn’t worked to improve designs. We have created an ongoing relationship with the client and the land.

Criteria to be a PermaBlitz Host:

Have been to a TPPGTA Permablitz to help out 3 or more times or have already committed to helping at future blitzes.

Through our PermaBlitz program we share the practices and methods of permaculture we have used for many years right here in the TPPGTA.

The team:

Toyin Coker

Jamiena Shah

o Puck

Douglas JE Barnes

Seeking collaborators:

Yes

Potential collaborators should contact :

Toyin coker, [email protected]

How will you ensure your project is self supporting within five years?:

This is a social enterprise! The very nature of the work is about building resiliancy and pushing indegenous knowledge to the forefront. All about sustainability and building community.

We have and are building intensive relationships with site hosts for ongoing support and engaged activity once we meet them.

The permablitz is greening cities and that work is going to last for years and years and years. We are making relationships with others in the community to solidify ourselves as the trainers of this holistic, big picture approach and have a waiting list for the service.

We have a growing number of vounteers eager to learn through hands on work and continue to identify more leads and more areas of interest.

Video:

How did you hear about ClimateSpark?:

SWB

The Mazava Clean Commute Project

Solar Ship Inc. — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:50:05 +0000

Contestant organization:

Mazava

Venture partners:

1. Solar Ship Inc.

2. Sustainable.TO

Describe your venture:

The Mazava Clean Commute (MCC) project aims to provide a solution for the city of Toronto’s commuting and transportation problems. According to a study by the Toronto Board of Trade, Toronto ranks last out of 21 worldwide metropolitan centres for its commuting time. A Torontonian travels an average of 80min/day to and from work, compared to a mere 69 min for Tokyo (the world’s largest metropolis with 6 times the population of Toronto). Los Angeles, with its notorious gridlock, and a population 3 times larger than Toronto, has an average of 56 min of daily commuting time. All major economic capitals of the world including New York, London, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Sydney and London all have smaller commuting times. Another independent survey by IBM also reports that Toronto belongs to the worst 20 cities in the world for commuting.

To the dismay of locals and visitors to Toronto, Toronto Pearson International Airport has been voted the worst airport in Canada according to a FlightNetwork.com poll. One important contributing factor to this ranking is the lack of direct access to the downtown core from the airport. This problem is not new, nor will it be resolved quickly as there are no immediate plans for an expansion of subway lines to service the airport.

The MCC project will help daily commuters with an air transport service using a solar-powered aircraft developed by Mazava’s partner Solar Ship Inc. that will have the ability to provide efficient transportation to and from the suburbs without carbon emissions. One of the unique characteristics of the solar-powered aircraft is its short take-off and landing capabilities, which allow for safe landing in very small areas, such as a 100m soccer field. The solarship does not require an airport or a runway, which means it can land in particular downtown parks and parking lots, designated as solarship stations.

The solarship stations will be located in 100m areas throughout the GTA and the downtown core. Stations in the GTA will be located near car-pooling parking lots to encourage sustainable transportation methods to and from the station. Stations in the downtown core will be strategically located to accommodate large passenger numbers during rush hours. Mazava will organize fundraising events within each targeted community in order to purchase solarships and pay for necessary solarship station fees, such as permits. Since this aircraft does not use fossil fuels, the operation costs are greatly reduced and will be covered by the combination of a small fee paid by commuters and advertising space on the solarships. It will also provide visitors to Toronto with a unique eco-tourism experience that will then be expanded to other nearby attractions such as Niagara Falls, the Muskoka region, Algonquin Park and others.

Emissions reduction potential:

In displacing fuel-intensive modes of transportation, zero-emission solarships provide both Green House Gas (GHG) mitigation and reduction of pollutant emissions. Soil and water co-benefits occur in decreasing reliance on road transportation. This reduces the destruction of green spaces (demonstrated by Toronto's waterfront) for building new roads aimed at improving Toronto’s obsolete transportation infrastructures, and reduces toxic run-off from road-going vehicles and chemicals used to maintain roads. As a solar-powered electric aircraft, no harmful emissions are produced during its use. This makes it the only emission-free form of transportation for commuters, with the exception of biking and walking. By displacing alternate methods of transportation, the implementation of The Mazava Clean Commute Project will result in ongoing emissions reduction.

The attached table summarizes our GHG and other emission reduction projections.

The team:

Mazava:

CEO: Jay Godsall has over 20 years experience as an entrepreneur with a global network of contacts in strategic remote area markets and in branding, advertising and marketing. Jay engaged in technology development and market realization by co-founding the Fio Corporation, a biotech company specializing in barcoding infectious disease. Jay recruited the initial management team and together they raised $25M in start-up financing. The product is just now coming to market.

Solar Ship Inc.

Solar Ship Inc. uses Canada’s global leadership in bush plane innovation with its patented inflated wing design to create an aircraft able to operate in areas where planes, helicopters and trucks cannot move cargo effectively. The technology combines the lift properties of both airplanes and airships. This design enables the aircraft to operate without the need for airports – it can take-off and land from a soccer field.

Solar Ship Inc. is demonstrating its aircraft technology in the cargo transport industry, targeting vast remote areas with natural resources and little infrastructure. Commodity economies face increasing costs getting product to global markets from remote areas such as Canada’s north and Africa. Transporters’ needs for these remote areas are not being met by today's planes, helicopters and trucks. Today's high-volume global commodities market’s need for safe and efficient movement of product is critical to the global economy. The five largest commodity regions cover an area four times the size of Canada with transport costs up to 100 times higher than established transport arteries. Solar Ship’s solution helps transport customers access these areas safely and connect them with global markets without the costs and damages associated with roads and railroads at a fraction of the costs of current aviation. The goal is to overcome transportation’s dependence on fuel and ground infrastructure, which is currently a major cost to remote area transport operations.

Sustainable.TO:

Specializing in designing and adapting green technologies to the needs of modern infrastructures, Sustainable.TO will offer their knowledge and resources in architecture, building and self sustaining green technologies to create a minimal environmental impact when the solarship is on the ground. Sustainable.TO has two decades of experience with sustainable technologies in the architecture and building industries. They provide realistic, achievable and affordable resource and energy-efficient design/build solutions. Current residential, commercial and institutional projects range from consultation-only, to addition/renovation design/build, to LEED-certified design/build of new homes and cottages, locally and abroad. They recently won the top prize in an international competition to design a Passive House for New Orleans. Acclaimed as "an incredibly thoughtful and viable response to this challenge, achieving 80-90% energy savings over conventional construction." Sustainable.TO's "Low Cost, Low Energy House" was selected from 65 entries from around the world. The competition was launched by the ArchDaily website and DesignByMany, a challenge-based design technology community. (http://www.archdaily.com/134521/passive-house-for-new-orleans-competition-winner/

Seeking collaborators:

How will you ensure your project is self supporting within five years?:

The MCC project will be self-supporting as it will be a community-based project where each community, with the help of Mazava, will fundraise for the purchase of a solarship. Operation costs will be covered by a pay-per-use fee service and advertising. Compared to other means of transportation that require roads, rails or gas, the solarship will not require any infrastructure and therefore maintenance costs will be minimal in comparison.

Additionally, profits generated from the eco-tourism industry will be reinvested into the purchase of additional solarships for Toronto communities.

Further information:

Tags:

A Unique VAWT Design= Great Investment ($1300 per kW Cost, 2 Year ROI)

Mtopbas — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:52:02 +0000

Contestant organization:

Whirlwind Turbines

Describe your venture:

We don't claim a breakthrough technology, rather utalize a very old & reliable one. What we offer is a unique design, never applied to a VAWT before, one which solves multiple issues associated with vertica; axis turbines and with potential to deliver electric energy for $1300 per kW, at only 1/5 of the current cost and ROI investment period for wind turbines of similar size & nature, $6,000 kW.

Imagine:

-An Ultra Compact & Light Turbine (<1m in height and <20kg in weight)

-Relatively cheap to manufacture & maintain due to nature of composite material used in its manufacturing and its design features.

-One that's completly Modular and use no metal nuts, fasteners or bolts

-Can be shipped in parts or carried by one person from one place to another on foot.

-A Wind Turbine that can assembled within half an hour (incl. electronic components) by the end user with no specialized tools

-Furthermore a VAWT which contains multiple Turbines and Generators within a very compact space and utilize custom magnetic bearings to minimize friction and noise.

-Whirlwind turbines generate electricity without any friction using the most reliable and tested technology; by interaction of parmanent magnets and copper coil wire.

Our Generators are contained within the top and bottom rings that connects the blades and benefit from the widest possible span. The Whirlwind Turbine posses 4 seperate turbines each with 4 generators. Each turbine is able to operate without any negative impact to the performance of the other.

(Outer Cage/Frame contains 4 Static Hallow Rings each with copper coil wire inside.

First set of Turbines (top & bottom) are connected with 2 Dynamic Hallow Rings each with parmanent magnets inside.)

Each of the Four Turbines are set in-between magnetic bearings to enable the turbines operate at very low wind speeds.

Whirlwind turbines have a provisional US patent and therefore protected against theft of intellectual property

In this forum we choose to disclose and share our concept and technology with other members in good faith.

Our first prototype is still in final stages of development, however images of actual parts and fully assembled product (frame) are available in our website: http://www.wix.com/ctopbas/whirlwindenergy (Products Page, Bottom Left Corner). Performance tests also have to be undertaken.

At this point in time based on the design features we estimate an annual output of 5,000 watt (5kW) and a retail sales price of $6,500.

Our Vision is to decrease average kilowatt cost for small wind turbines from $6000 per kW to $1300 per kW and therefore shorten the ROI period for our customers 1/5 of its current lenght for other similar products.

Target Market

Munuciplaities; Primarily City of Toronto and Vancouver, both of these cities represent some of the highest wind speed locations in Canada and North America.

Whirlwind Turbines are designed to be used in urban settings; in city centers as a part of the existing infrastracture and requires very little in terms of extra infrastructure investment. They are intended to set on top of street light or electric poles with direct connection to the grid.

At the current prices for Wind Energy in Province of Ontario $0.8 per watt, City of Toronto will be able to recoup its $6500 per unit investment ($1300 per kW cost vs. $800 per kW revenue) within less than 2 years.

From that point on, city of Toronto will have the opportunity to offer the additional capacity, free or at a discount to its low income citizens or small businesses making it a more attractive destination to live and start a business.

Our mass manufacturing cost per unit is estimated to be in $2500-$3500 range and hence based on the $6500 sales price, we expect a gross margin of +50% and plan to finance growth by using free (in house) cash flow from operations. By the 3rd year we forecast to reach a gross revenue range of $1.75 M to $3.2M and net income ratio of 21%, which we estimate to maintain thereafter. By this time we expect to have sold min 800 units, 500 units sold in 3rd year.

We are ready to share our business plan and technical drawings for any interesed party who is willing to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement

Emissions reduction potential:

By their design VAWT constitute a much better fit for the urban & residential use, unfortunetly due to their low performance, this is also a segment of the market that remained relatively undeveloped unlike the commercial horizantol turbine market which have enjoyed double digit growth for the last decade. Whirlwind Turbines hope to change this and make VAWT affordable for the residential hosehold market

The team:

Cumhur Murat Topbas, President:

More than 11 years experience in a variety of industries; Banking, B2B Financial Services, Customer Goods, Education and Real Estate in a wide range of roles; Internal Auditor, Finance Manager, Project Analyst, Manager of Business Advisory and Business Development. 3 Years experience as entrepreneur

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?trk=hb_tab_pro_top

Seeking collaborators:

Yes

Potential collaborators should contact :

Murat Topbas: (647) 765 5545, [email protected]

How will you ensure your project is self supporting within five years?:

Our mass manufacturing cost per unit is estimated to be in $2500-$3500 range and hence based on the $6500 sales price, we expect a gross margin of +50%.

By the 3rd year we forecast to reach a gross revenue range of $1.75 M to $3.2M and net income ratio of 21%, which we estimate to maintain thereafter. By this time we expect to have sold min 800 units, 500 units sold in 3rd year.

Further information:

Company Website

Tags:

Green Energy

Wind Energy

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

How did you hear about ClimateSpark?:

Center for Social Innovation

evandtec Inc.

evandtec — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:47:06 +0000

Contestant organization:

evandtec Inc.

Venture partners:

XPV Capital

Export Development Canada

Ontario Government Growth Corporation

NGEN Partners

Describe your venture:

evandtec Inc. (www.evandtec.com) is a venture-backed start-up company that provides water management solutions to commercial and light industrial firms which would like to reduce water consumption, lower energy use, and substantially decrease the amount of treatment chemicals they use as part of their heating, cooling, and water softening activities.

evandtec systems provide companies a comprehensive and financially rewarding approach to switch to clean efficient water treatment without added risk.

SAVE PREVENT PROTECT • Energy • Water • Maintenance • Scale • Bacteria • Corrosion • The Environment • Health Safety • Cooling System

Systems Solutions - Include a patented electrostatic water treatment device that works synergistically with separation technology to prevent scale from building on equipment surfaces and restore the cooling system to its optimal operating efficiency.

Service Solutions - Service coverage by evandtec technicians who perform system analysis, design, training, testing, reporting, performance validation and ongoing consultation and support.

Remote Monitoring Solutions - Web-based monitoring and reporting of water treatment systems operation provide real-time visibility of ongoing system performance and savings.

Emissions reduction potential:

http://www.evandtec.com/resources/food-production-facility-addresses-internal-energy-and-water-efficiency-with-evandtec-solution.html

The team:

http://www.evandtec.com/about-us/our-team.html

Seeking collaborators:

Potential collaborators should contact :

Jose Gonzalez 416-977-1105

How will you ensure your project is self supporting within five years?:

This is a fundamental underpinning of the business and our venture backers. Current growth trends support the company's long term cash flow positive ability (and hence self-sustaining nature).

Further information:

evandtec homepage

Case Study

Tags:

water use reduction energy savings chemical reduction

How did you hear about ClimateSpark?:

Ian Casterton and XPV Capital