2009: The Third Quarter
What I’ve been up to
The biggest news of the quarter by far was the launch of the website – www.regeneratebiogas.com. The site launched in late August, but I didn’t really get to work until September. Since then, I’ve written five posts and got my first subscriber! Subsequent meetings were held with Elastic Mind throughout the quarter, greatly improving the appearance and functionality of the site. Much work still needs to be done, a few of the pages don’t have any content on them yet… but it’s all about progress and I am marching on.
Running a close second news wise was the province of Ontario’s official launch of the Feed-in Tariff program, which began to accept applications on October 1, 2009. Leading up to the launch, the province also announced a few notable financial assistance programs, in order to encourage smaller projects to get off the ground. These programs provide communities and aboriginal groups with up to $200,000 for project planning, feasibility studies, and design and engineering costs – I will help different groups get access to this money.
- July: After pitching my idea about focusing on the development of community energy projects, David Pasieka (MaRS advisor) told me about the Transition Towns concept
- I believe that different Transition groups will be an integral part of my future growth. Since the initial introduction, I’ve purchased and read the official Transition handbook written by creator Rob Hopkins and began making connections with the different groups around Ontario including Ottawa, Peterborough, Dundas and more recently Barrie, Oakville and Toronto. Due to geographic constraints, at this point most communications have been via the web or email; though I did attend my first meeting with Transition Town Peterborough (TTP) on October 6 and the second ever meeting of Transition Toronto on October 21.
- July: The Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA), introduced a series of webinars geared towards helping community power grow in the province. The first of these, “Renewable Energy Co-ops” was held at the end of the month and was hosted by Jen Heneberry of the Ontario Co-operative Association.
- This is significant because part of my job will be to help some community groups take the steps necessary to set up an energy co-op as a way to invest in biogas projects, among other renewable energy.
- August: I bought a new computer, a MacBook.
- My old laptop was moving slow, so it needed to go. This new machine is a big improvement and was the kick in the pants I needed to get going on the website. I had sort of been delaying the site launch because my computer was slow – like that makes a lot of sense…
- August: Attended the workshop “Building Effective Community Partnerships”, hosted by Realized Worth.
- The workshop focused on creating effective employee volunteer programs through proper engagement of the right people, as opposed to just everyone who shows up. It taught me some valuable lessons on building trust and how to measure the social impact of my work. The organizer, Chris Jarvis, and I have since had two follow up meetings to discuss some best practices when engaging community groups. It’s been a valuable connection, that will definitely come in handy going forward.
- August: OSEA webinar “Grant Funding 101”, hosted by Linda Briggs of the Ontario Trillium Foundation and Ben Marans of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund.
- Both presenters discussed the specific grants available from their organizations, but more importantly they shared some good knowledge to increase the success of receiving grant money. This will apply when helping individual communities receive grants, like the new Community Energy Partnership Program, for project planning costs.
- September: Signed up for the first annual Community Power Conference, hosted by OSEA, taking place on November 15-16, 2009.
- I’m pretty excited about going, it will be educational and create some new connections.
- September: Met with MaRS advisor David Pasieka to discuss my progress, my strategy and what I was hoping to accomplish with my attendance at the Community Power Conference.
- September: First day of Entrepreneurship 101, being offered by MaRS.
- An eight month course introducing students to start-up basics including financing, defining markets, hiring teams, protecting intellectual property and raising capital. The course ends with a business plan competition where the winner gets $10,000! I’m definitely going for it. Throughout the year, numerous successful entrepreneurs will be speaking. Harry Rosen spoke a couple weeks ago about the importance of building strong relationships with your customers.
Looking Ahead
As I mentioned above, in October I went to Peterborough to meet with some of the people behind Transition Town Peterborough. Since then, I’ve submitted an article for the winter edition of their quarterly magazine Greenzine, have a date scheduled to present my idea (in March) and will be attending another meeting at the end of October. In addition, on October 22 I attended one of the first meetups of Transition Toronto at City Hall, which also included senior members of Transition Oakville, Transition Barrie and TTP.
On November 15-16 I will be attending the first Community Power Conference, hosted by OSEA. Entrepreneurship 101 will continue, every Wednesday until May. And the website will continue to grow and develop. Keep checking back or subscribe to my blog to stay informed.
And what about that investor day?
After giving my financial needs some more thought, I realized that for the time being I don’t need outside funds – I will continue to fund the business with my salary and line of credit. However, I think sometime in 2010, outside funds will be needed. Lately, I’ve been thinking more about the concept of crowd-sourcing to raise money for biogas projects…
Business Description
ReGenerate is a player in the growing Ontario renewable energy market, with a focus on biogas. I help different groups from the community (farmers, food companies, municipalities and concerned citizens) with general resource assessments, project planning – including application to the Feed-in Tariff program, financing, through to project development and operation.
The main objective is to help as many communities as possible by showing them how to use all of their available resources to reduce energy costs, create jobs, reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, produce renewable energy, and earn revenue – with biogas.
Regenerative design is all about creating greater output than the sum of your inputs, which is how I see biogas production. By using a resource that is currently disposed of, sometimes at a cost to the producer, and turning it into energy, we are adding value to an existing process.
What is biogas?
- Biogas is produced through a process called anaerobic digestion, where organic matter (cow/chicken/pig manure, food waste, waste water sludge, slaughterhouse remains, etc.) is placed in an oxygen-free environment, to produce a mixture of gas that is 50-72.5% methane (natural gas is 90% methane) depending on the feedstock
- The gas is suitable for gas distribution networks or power and heat generation.
- High-quality fertilizer is the by-product
Biogas production uses a proven and established technology; we are not a technology firm.
The Numbers
| 07/01/09 – 09/30/09 | 01/01/09 – 09/30/09 | |
| Revenues | $0 | $0 |
| Expenses | ||
| General Admin | $267 | $555 |
| Travel (gas, car rentals) | $382 | $382 |
| Depreciation | $283 | $283 |
| Conferences | $246 | $661 |
| Web Costs | $685 | $685 |
| Total Expenses | $1,863 | $2,566 |
| Net Profit (Loss) | -$1,863 | -$2,566 |