The last 10 months have been an incredible roller coaster ride. Community-owned biogas went from being an idea inspired by the community power movement and my lifelong obsession with waste to a plan being approved by the Board of Management of the Toronto Zoo.
My team and I have been through some nice ups and downs along the way – sometimes feeling like the project might not happen at all and other times feeling like there was no way it wouldn’t happen.
ZooShare went from having no capital beyond the sweat of its founders to being approved for over $350,000 in combined funding from the Community Energy Partnership Program and Toronto Atmospheric Fund.
Yesterday was truly a great day for everyone involved – with both the Zoo and ZooShare.
- People from around Toronto who love animals and support the Zoo’s conservation goals will now be able to invest their retirement savings into the real achievement of those goals, while also earning a healthy return and being actively involved in the development of other community-owned biogas plants around Ontario.
- The Zoo will now begin earning real returns from their manure and enjoy an increased profile within the global renewable energy community.
- The Ontario biogas industry will enjoy an increased profile as a result of such an innovative project being located within the GTA – where a critical mass of people can learn about the benefits of this technology and see a live, operational plant up close.
- And the environment will benefit from a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by over 10,000 tonnes and reduced risk of groundwater contamination.
It’s a win-win-win-win.
Check out ZooShare.ca for more information about an investment with pootential.
