2011 – The Third Quarter

The third quarter of 2011 was highlighted by:

• First investment made in ZooShare
• Community-owned biogas information session held in the Kawarthas in early August
• The beginning of ReGenerate’s tenancy at the Centre for Social Innovation

What I’ve been up to

• ZooShare Biogas Co-operative - In July, ZooShare held its first Members Meeting, where it appointed an auditor and confirmed the by-laws of the cooperative. It also hosted a couple of events: 1. As part of the Renewable Energy Approval process, two Public Information Sessions held at the Zoo, which yielded some good questions and no resistance to the plant’s development; 2. A Founders’ Club investors night, which yielded 3 new members and $35,000 committed!; and 3. The first of ZooShare’s monthly open houses, giving potential members the opportunity to interact directly with the co-op and learn more about the project. Negotiations on contracts with key stakeholders continued and two applications were submitted for a low-interest loan and a grant. Two volunteers began working for ZooShare in the summer and have been helping out in a number of different areas. In addition, a University of Waterloo student began working with the co-op as part of his Masters of Planning thesis.  At the end of the quarter ZooShare participated in National Forest Week at the Zoo and Green Energy Field Day at Queens Park.
  
  • Additional investors and members have joined ZooShare since the meetings began, but not as many as I had hoped by that point.  This reflects a general trend with the project, as many of the key milestones I had hoped to achieve have come and gone, with the counterparties involved moving at a much slower pace than me. This resulted in a feeling that about 5 carts were lined up before the horse.
    
  • Sorting out the nuances of the contracts and agreements has been incredibly educational, I’m amazed by how much legal knowledge is required to make some things happen, and by how much I have to learn still.  Mostly it seems to be about thinking through all the details, not necessarily knowing “law-speak”.
• Biogas in the Kawarthas - The Kawartha General Resource Assessment led to a few kitchen table meetings with farmers interested in learning more about community-owned biogas and an information session, which took place in early August.
  • Everyone that I’ve spoken to about biogas around this area understands why it’s good for them, the local economy and the environment. The skepticism and hesitation comes when the conversation shifts to the Ontario Power Authority or Hydro One, or the technology itself because there aren’t many operational plants around. For the most part, people were happy to listen and intrigued to learn more, but were in wait-and-see mode with the Ontario provincial elections looming.
  • Each of the kitchen table meetings required some pre-feasibility analysis on what a biogas plant could look like on the particular farm we were visiting.  It was valuable practice in improving my pitch and yielded more positive relationships with future biogas farmers.
  • The information session included talks by Chris Ferguson from CCS-AgriKomp, Chris Duke from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and myself. Each of us talked about biogas from a different perspective and took questions. It proved to be valuable practice on my presentation skills and taught me that if I want farmers to show up, I should probably host an information session in the winter.
• Transition Towns - In addition to attendance at monthly Steering Committee meetings, Transition Toronto (TTo) hosted a neighbourhood support meeting to learn more from the individuals who are working at the neighbourhood level, specifically how we could help them thrive and succeed. In addition the planning began for a Training for Transition to be held in late January in St Margaret’s Bay, Nova Scotia.
• Development of ReGenerate Biogas Inc.
  • The third quarter marked the beginning of ReGenerate’s tenancy at the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto. Initially I rented a permanent desk space for us to use, but soon found we just weren’t putting in the time at the office to make it worthwhile, so I’ve downgraded to Hot Desk space which gives nice flexibility.I attended a lecture as part of MaRS Global Leadership Series – this one by Adam Kahane who had just written a book on Power and Love, two polarizing forces in all of us (teams, society, individuals) that need to be kept in balance in order for real progress to be made. It’s an interesting book and worth the read.
  • As a result of my new relationship with James Sbrolla and the RIC Centre I made some new contacts in Durham and York regions who are interested in establishing community-owned biogas plants in their areas.  They weren’t farmers, but people of influence who have since led me to more promising leads and opportunities.  I was also introduced to Doug Reddick from the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, and John Pickard from BioEnterprise.
  • We submitted a proposal to the British Columbia Ministry of Environment in response to the request for research and recommendations in order to aid in the development regulations for BC’s budding biogas industry.  Unfortunately, we didn’t win the contract, but it was also a valuable learning experience thinking through the project’s tasks and requirements and developing our proposal.  We scored highly, but ultimately didn’t win because we lacked the experience.  Can’t really take much blame for that, just need to keep going and gain some experience for the next one.
  • I began working with John Nicholson of Environmental Business Consultants to help with the Renewable Energy Approval of a small wind project in Simcoe County. This work was a great help because it provided some regular work to help keep the bills paid, while also teaching more about the environmental approval process for renewable energy projects in Ontario.  This has been a nice lesson in the value of small and regular work in combination with larger projects, which I had previously overlooked.