Bullfrog Powered Homes

[mattm]

there's nickel mining regardless, there will always be some evils. hybrid cars and green energy are a start and they are the right direction to go. We're switching soon and we're not buying a car until we can at least get a hybrid and even if you're joking ruberdinghy, it's the cynical viewpoint like that that destroys good ideas and is the lazy staple of north america and I'm actually quite sick of it. Either way, people are free to do what they want.

I understand that we have the option to say "well, no one else is doing it so I don't have to" or to say that no matter what you do there is some evil but I like to try.

[bradm]

Car companies could mass produce hybrid cars and make them affordable, but they don't want to because there's not an oil shortage yet.

More precisely, fuel prices right now aren't high enough to generate enough demand from the public for extremely fuel-efficient forms of transport (like hybrids, or bicycles, or public transit); people (esp. in North America) value size, power, and convenience more than they value fuel efficiency, and the product lines of (most) car companies reflect this.

Aloha,

Brad

[Jaimoe]

incremental steps, no doubt, but I think we are generally moving in the right direction.

It's really too late. More cars is bad for the environment even if they are hybrids. Factories use all kinds of natural resources such as oil to make all cars, plus the amount of chemicals said auto-plants omit into the environment is massive. You bet I have a car, but I don't think I will for very much longer.

[mattm]

I try to value people not dying or getting sick as much as I can over size, power or anything else so I take the bus. Besides, it's the biggest car on the road

[bradm]

I find it interesting that the Canadian Govt uses hydrogen buses, but automakers aren't making this type of car available.

With hydrogen, there's a chicken-and-egg problem: you can't sell a lot of hydrogen-powered cars until hydrogen is as commonly available as gasoline (or diesel fuel), but hydrogen won't be as commonly available as gasoline (or diesel fuel) until a lot of hydrogen-powered cars are widely used.

Fleet vehicles (esp. those restricted to a city), like buses, are a different case, as they're usually fueled from a central location (or several central locations), which makes for a much smaller build-up of the fuelling infrastructure.

Aloha,

Brad

[rubberdinghy]

This is a neat read.

Your Carbon Budget

My comment was solely based on the everyday media back and forth re: hybrids/bio-diesel blah blah blah.

Did you know that there are nearly 190 Bio-Diesel buses in Ottawa....The city wants to scrap the Biodiesel program to save the city money.

[Jaimoe]

And even some buses (along with subways and streetcars) are electric powered.

[rubberdinghy]

True that Bradm. Hydrogen filling stations are starting to pop up. There apparently is one in Ottawa

[Jaimoe]

Let's hope people adhere to the DO NOT SMOKE signs at hydrogen fill-up stations,

[rubberdinghy]

The City of Ottawa has ordered 210 Hybrid buses for delivery in 2010.

We are getting 50 new articulated buses this year. Why they didn't order them hybrid, I'll never know.

STO (Gatineau transit) have been using hybrids for over a year now.

[bradm]

More cars is bad for the environment even if they are hybrids.

I read an article a while ago (that I can't find right now) that said something interesting: given all of the increases in cars' fuel economy over the last, say, 30 or 40 years, North America is actually using twice as much gasoline as we were back in the early 1970s. Yes, the average (or per-vehicle) fuel efficiency has been increased, but we now have a lot more cars, and people (especially commuters) are driving a lot more. As a society, we seem to have focused on one small aspect (per-vehicle fuel efficiency) of the problem, rather than the bigger picture (capping or reducing our total fuel usage); the former is an important component of the latter, but on its own is not enough.

Aloha,

Brad

[Jaimoe]

Of course I don't like seeing all the layoffs in Windsor and Oshawa either.

[phishtaper]

incremental steps' date=' no doubt, but I think we are generally moving in the right direction. [/quote']

It's really too late. More cars is bad for the environment even if they are hybrids. Factories use all kinds of natural resources such as oil to make all cars, plus the amount of chemicals said auto-plants omit into the environment is massive. You bet I have a car, but I don't think I will for very much longer.

Sorry Jaimoe, I simply cannot share your defeatist attitude.

So, what would you do? Ban cars altogether? And how would you realistically sell that plan?

[Jaimoe]

incremental steps' date=' no doubt, but I think we are generally moving in the right direction. [/quote']

It's really too late. More cars is bad for the environment even if they are hybrids. Factories use all kinds of natural resources such as oil to make all cars, plus the amount of chemicals said auto-plants omit into the environment is massive. You bet I have a car, but I don't think I will for very much longer.

Sorry Jaimoe, I simply cannot share your defeatist attitude.

So, what would you do? Ban cars altogether? And how would you realistically sell that plan?

Banning cars isn't realistic in our infrastructure-challenged society. Selling the importance of high density and less reliance on commuting by car would help. It's related to out-of-control urban sprawl. Oh yeah, and this all relates on at least one level with the foreseen rising food prices that will hit North America shortly (I said "one level" BradM).

[phishtaper]

of course its not realistic to ban cars in our society. (my question was rhetorical) ... ok, so then we are stuck with cars for now. again, I ask, what's wrong with moving towards hybrids or other more fuel efficient vehicles? if we are stuck having to drive, isn't it better that we drive something that's less harmful than something that's more harmful? do you really think it's too late?

[Jaimoe]

of course its not realistic to ban cars in our society. (my question was rhetorical) ... ok, so then we are stuck with cars for now. again, I ask, what's wrong with moving towards hybrids or other more fuel efficient vehicles? if we are stuck having to drive, isn't it better that we drive something that's less harmful than something that's more harmful? do you really think it's too late?

Nope, there's nothing wrong with moving towards hybrids etc... If I ever get another car, it will be a hybrid or an electric car - although producing certain forms of electricity is environmentally destructive too.

Too late? Yes, I think it's too late, but I gotta try to live too.

[slavetothegroove]

of course its not realistic to ban cars in our society. (my question was rhetorical) ... ok, so then we are stuck with cars for now. again, I ask, what's wrong with moving towards hybrids or other more fuel efficient vehicles? if we are stuck having to drive, isn't it better that we drive something that's less harmful than something that's more harmful? do you really think it's too late?

Woo hoo, now that's what I want to hear (it's mattm though I seem to be logged into the wrong account I think).

Personally I think that if we planned out the mass transit systems better we could pretty much ban cars but suggestions like that will get me killed.

I don't know what my carbon footprint is but Steph, Trey and I have a very low one. We save power as much as possible, walk instead of even taking the bus, even if walking takes an hour or so, although I have to ride the bus to work, that's almost all I do. We try to save energy and will be using a clothes line this summer rather than the dryer (there's even one in the basement).

We rent so have the appliances that came with the place, some of which are old and probably take way too much power but I'd like to get new ones once I can afford it. I'd love to have an electric car that is charged via bullfrog type power.

Thing is, pretty much anyone can do this, it's not all THAT hard, just takes a little bit more effort.

Here's something I worry about. When my dad was a kid, if someone would have mentioned smog alerts they would have been said to have been on crack or the 50's equivalent of that saying. Now, we have them. We have them so bad that the worst days if you have a respiratory problem you'd best stay inside. So, I keep having the sad thought about what I think will be next which is smog days. Days in which the smog is so bad that you just can't go outside, breathing problem or not. Ok, I'll probably be accused of smoking the crack but it's what I see and I don't want our kids to have to go through that. It's nice outside and breathing can be nice too. And what hurts is that there is no REAL reason for this. We say stuff about our society needing things and it's how our infrastructure works... bullshit, it's pure laziness. Everyone can contribute and we'd reduce the problem by enough that the earth can handle it and so can our systems.

rant done, sorry.

[AD]

This is Energy Conservation Week and, once again, the green frog has leaped into the spotlight.

The cartoon amphibian is the logo of Bullfrog Power, the purveyor of "green" electricity that in less than three years has made itself synonymous with renewable power, despite being a tiny swimmer in Ontario's energy pond.

The company handles a minuscule fraction of the electricity generated in the province – just three ten-thousandths of a per cent, or 0.0003. Yet, it's de rigueur for those who wish to be on the side of the environmental angels to announce they're "bullfrogpowered." Among recent high-profile clients: the Nelly Furtado Earth Hour concert, three York Region civic buildings and condo builder TAS DesignBuild.

The company's curious growth strategy relies on getting consumers to pay a 50 per cent premium for electricity, without any promise of paybacks or government rebates. Their only reward is the warm, fuzzy feeling they've helped to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

"I do see it as remarkable. It never would have happened five or six years ago," Rob Wilson, a marketing professor at Ryerson University, said of the company's success.

Like the evening cacophony produced by puny spring peepers, Bullfrog, a privately held, for-profit company, makes a marketing noise that belies its 30-person size.

The Conservation Week news: It has joined EnWise Power Solutions, which provides energy-saving home retrofits, to offer customers discounts on each other's services.

From the start, Bullfrog has followed the lesson preached by U.S. marketing guru Seth Godin – in a field of black and white Holsteins a purple cow gets all the attention.

"We tried to create something unique," president Tom Heintzman said during an interview in the company's new offices at Spadina Ave. and Adelaide St., where the décor is smart, the office furniture second-hand and the space large enough for the company to grow.

"First and foremost was to create a product that's as environmental as we could get it, and attractive to consumers. Then, we tried to create a company that would be different from the standard utility."

How different? About 700 people showed up last October for the company's second annual Bullfrog Bash.

"When was the last time anyone went to a party for their utility?" Heintzman asked.

Like Direct Energy and other providers, Bullfrog buys power in bulk and resells it, with the energy going into the grid, not directly to customers' homes. But unlike other resellers, all its electricity comes from wind-powered or small hydro generating stations.

Homeowners pay 8.9 cents per kilowatt-hour (the amount of energy needed to keep 10 100-watt bulbs burning 60 minutes). Most of us pay no more than 5.9 cents, the current standard price set by the Ontario Energy Board.

As of last month, those in apartments or condos, whose hydro bills are embedded in rent payments or maintenance fees, can have their consumption estimated, then shell out 3.5 cents per kilowatt-hour to Bullfrog – again, for nothing in return other than a fuzzy feeling.

The company charges the higher rate because it's selling expensive power. To encourage renewable sources of electricity, the province generally pays green energy providers 11 cents a kilowatt-hour. To compete, Bullfrog must match or exceed that price, Heintzman said. Bullfrog also invests in new renewable-energy projects.

"It's the nature of creating a green market," said Heintzman, a lawyer who spent three years with the advocacy group Sierra Legal Defence (now EcoJustice). "We're prepared to pay generators more than the market rate, which allows them to increase their return on capital and get into projects that otherwise might not be economic."

Despite the green frog's prominence, only about 6,000 residential customers and 600 businesses and government agencies have signed on. That lets the company support the generation of less than 10 megawatts of electricity – not even a flicker in the province's total capacity of about 31,000.

"Our revenues aren't yet enough to sustain the business," said Heintzman.

It's not for a lack of creating buzz, achieved partly by mimicking non-profit organizations. If they choose, its customers are listed on its website as Founders Club members.

"It's not only to publicly recognize them, but it's also important to promote the sense of collective action," Heintzman said.

The club, "is part of the branding," said Peter Clarke of environmental consultants ICF International. "It's helping you to feel good instead of just getting a bill. You're not just buying a commodity, you're part of something."

But doubters wonder if Bullfrog will keep attracting customers if the economy sinks. After all, Clarke noted that Bullfrog isn't the cheapest way to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Its customers spend about $127 for each tonne of reductions. That's nearly four times the current price for carbon offsets on the international market – money that is invested in reforestation, efficient stoves, solar power or other projects in developing countries.

Some customers do all they can to cut consumption before buying from Bullfrog. But, like offsets, for others it can amount to a guilt payment: Use as much electricity as ever but keep a clean conscience because your supply is green.

Heintzman says it's all to the good: The more customers he has, the more Ontario moves away from conventional electricity.

He remains convinced people will keep buying what Bullfrog is selling.

"We're just scratching the surface, moving from start-up to adolescence. There's a lot of growth to do."