sustainability : Innovation + Job News

Christian Burks, Ontario Genomics Institute president and CEO, says it will be a "shot heard 'round the world": an investment by the provincial government of $86 million in genomics research projects in the GTA intended to cement the region's place as a leader in this branch of life sciences and environmental sustainability.

"When it comes to recruiting the best researchers from around the world, the knowledge bases and tools (that will result from this investment) are great attractors," Burks says.

The investment comes through the Ontario government's Global Leadership Round in Genomics & Life Sciences -- GL2 for short -- and is part of a total of $114.6 million in grants given province-wide. Funding in the GTA will support 14 high-profile projects led by the Hospital for Sick Children, Mount Sinai Hospital, the University Health Network and the University of Toronto. In all, 168 researchers will have their efforts funded by these grants.

The GTA is currently the third-largest centre for genomics research in North America, after the Bay Area and Boston, according to Burks. In announcing the funding, Ontario Minister of Research and Innovation said these grants intend to exploit that status. "Through GL2, our government is helping turn our world-class research capacity into breakthroughs that will lead to new business and jobs," he said.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Christian Burks, President and CEO, Ontario Genomics Institute; Office of John Milloy, Ontario Minister of Research and Innovation

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Two metal-coating processes commonly in use today -- applying cadmium and chrome -- produce toxic effects for workers applying them and, in the case of cadmium, for its entire lifespan. Etobicoke-based Integran Technologies is exploring nanotechnology solutions to produce alternative high-strength, high-performance metals that are non-toxic to workers and the environment to replace these products.

Late last month, the federal government announced it would fund this nanotech research at Integran with a $1.1 million repayable investment over the next two years.  "This funding will allow Integran to offer viable and environmentally sustainable alternatives to the production of metals for the aerospace industry," said federal Minister of Industry Tony Clement.

Integran was founded 10 years ago as the evolution of a former branch of Ontario Hydro. Now a privately held company, Integran has grown from five to 35 employees over the course of the past five years. Rich Emrich, VP of business development at Integran, says that while these research projects will not lead to direct hiring, the company is constantly growing its workforce, adding researchers with advanced degrees.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Rich Emrich, VP of Business Development, Integran Technologies Inc.

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Hy-Drive Technologies Ltd, based in Mississauga, announced last week that it was to raise $5 million in equity through a private placement -- the news came just a month after the company was listed as the small-cap clean tech stock of the week by TMXmoney and as one of the Earth Day penny stock picks at Stockhouse.

The company is growing rapidly as it markets its proprietary innovation -- a patented hydrogen generating system that injects hydrogen gas into a regular fuel injection system that allows fuel to burn cleaner and more efficiently. The Stockhouse report explains, "The enriched air/fuel mixture burns more efficiently, extracting more clean energy from the fuel while reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Further, independent tests show that the Hy-Drive Hydrogen Generating System increases fuel economy by more than 10 per cent."

According to a company release, it has recently been engaged in a large marketing drive that it is happy with -- and has resulted in 150 expressions of interest in its product. "We are very pleased with the initial results..." said Fred Florence, Hy-Drive CFO and COO, in a release, "and we expect to add many more fleets to trial HGS and prove to themselves the savings and emission reductions that can be realized."

The company has been around in various forms since 1996, but first launched it's hydrogen generating product -- which it calls the result of "over 100 person-years of research" -- in 2004. Now headquartered in Mississauga, the company employs approximately 30 people.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Fred Florence, COO, Hy-Drive Technologies Ltd.; Stockhouse; TMXmoney

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Fifth Light, an Oakville-based company that helps companies conserve energy by automatically dimming lights, will invest $25 million to advance its technology over the next five years, an investment that is expected to create 86 new jobs.

The company's innovative "dimmable ballast for fluorescent light bulbs" automatically dims indoor lighting depending on the amount of exterior light available. The company says its technology helps businesses with fluorescent lighting conserve energy, generate revenue, increase productivity and reduce waste.

"This investment gives us a heightened ability to deliver on upcoming contracts using a groundbreaking system we wholeheartedly believe in," says Dr. Joseph Dableh, CEO and president of Fifth Light Technology. His comments came after last month's announcement by the provincial government that the Ministry of Economic Development would provide a grant of $3.75 million to the company as part of the $25 million total investment.

Author: Edward Keenan
Sources: Dr. Joseph Dableh, CEO and president, Fifth Light Technology; Leigh-Ann Popek, Minister of Economic Development and Trade's Office

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While most of the headlines -- and job news -- about Ontario's Feed-in-Tariff energy program have involved multinationals (see Samsung's $7 billion, 15,000-job bonanza, for instance), many have been pushing the potential of community energy partnerships -- locally organized and owned programs to produce energy at the neighbourhood level. Earlier this week, the MaRS Discovery District hosted a forum on just that subject, featuring speakers from around the world offering relevant information on financing and organization of community energy.

On cue, the provincial government announced a program to give such projects a boost: the new Community Energy Partnerships Program (CEPP) will cover development costs of up to $200,000 for not-for-profit and co-op energy projects.

In a release, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Brad Duguid pointed out both the environmental and employment benefits of the program. "Opening Ontario's doors to clean energy means that everyone can participate in growing Ontario's clean energy economy and the jobs associated with it," he said.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Amy Tang, Office of the Honourable Brad Duguid

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Cavet Technologies launched a new product this week out of the Yonge-Lawrence neighbourhood of Toronto, introducing an innovative, environmentally friendly lighting product in 15 countries. The LumiSmart ILC (which stands for Intelligent Lighting Controller) is a patented device that controls florescent lighting systems for businesses to save energy without effecting the comfort of a building's occupants.

The company boasts that although they just launched this week, they draw on a decade of research by the founders and own six patents. Company spokesperson Leslie Taschner says that though the company launches with fewer than 10 employees, it will be partnering with Don Mills-based Celestica to manufacture and ship the LumiSmart around the world, which could produce a number of additional jobs in Toronto.

Taschner says that the product is uniquely suited to its home of Ontario, given the Ontario Green Energy Act requirements and the recent local momentum around energy conservation, and notes that while headlines have recently been occupied by foreign company's partnering with the provincial government on renewable energy, Cavet is a proudly local company that will take Toronto-born clean technology, design and manufacturing to the world.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Leslie Taschner, Cavet Technologies

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When he founded Avante Security in 1996, company President and CEO Emmanuel Mounouchos was dedicated to helping ensure people's safety through innovative security devices. But in recent years, his company has expanded its focus to help people secure not just their immediate environment but the global environment as well, through innovations that have drawn notice.

Last year the company was named one of Canada's "Clean 15" green technology companies, and last week the Ontario's minister of the environment, Brad Duguid, visited the company's Don Mills office to see the Smartboxx Energy Monitor in action. Apparently, he was impressed. "Energy Conservation is a key priority under Ontario's landmark Green Energy Act," Duguid said in a statement after the visit. "Innovations led by private sector companies, such as Avante can help lead a culture of conservation through the creation of consumer friendly products to manage the energy we use in our daily lives."

The Smartboxx monitor allows people to remotely monitor and control their energy usage using the web or a smartphone. According to the company's website, they are always on the lookout for new staff.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Emmanuel Mounouchos, President and CEO, Avante Security

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At the inaugural Green Innovation Awards presented by the Toronto Community Foundation on April 23, three winners received chunks of the $50,000 prize pool as start-up money for their proposed environmentally innovative business ideas.

The biggest cheque was for $25,000 to Robert Kori Golding, who proposed a Facebook and iPhone game application that would see people build Green Cities in the game, and earn carbon credits tradeable in the game environment by completing real-world missions such as attending farmer's markets or changing light bulbs.

Golding says that the project is in its infancy, but he plans to work with a team of advisors to use the prize money to raise further capital to turn the game idea into a reality.

$10,000 went to Olivier Trescases for his Green Gym idea that would harvest energy from workout equipment to feed the electrical grid. And former Torontoist editor Sarah Lazarovic picked up $15,000 in support of her GreenHouseTO idea to build a website and mobile application that would give homeowners, builders and renovators access to information about green building.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Robert Kori Golding, My Green Toronto; Toronto Community Foundation

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Most people in the GTA probably missed the news about Arclin's new environmentally friendly dust suppression product for rail car topping. In fact, most people in the GTA have likely never heard of Arclin. And who could blame them, since the company's activities -- it is a world leader in paper overlays technology and a supplier of bonding and surfacing materials -- are hardly an everyday household concern.

But the company is one of those hidden Toronto success stories, a market leader owned by Teachers Private Capital (putting them in the more famous company of the Toronto Maple Leafs) and based in Mississauga. Arclin employs 700 people and owns satellite plants around the world, and also has a demonstrated dedication to both innovation and the environment.

That environmentalism was extended this week with the introduction of a new dust suppression product for topping rail cars that are transporting coal. Traditionally such products are made of emulsified, petroleum -based products, while this new topper is made of organic raw materials.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Kevin Griffin, Arclin

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Ten finalists are in the running for the Toronto Community Foundation's $50,000 Green Innovation Award seed grant to be awarded Friday night (April 23) at the Toronto Green Awards. The finalists, who were chosen from among 127 submissions, faced a panel of judges to make presentations earlier this month.

The list of finalists and more information about the awards are available at the TCF's website.

The awards are funded by the TCF's Vital Toronto Fund (and, according to an email from the TCF, particularly thanks to the donations of the John & Christine Currie Foundation, the Helen McCrea Peacock Foundation and the Adrian & Reta Hudson Fund). Award winners will be announced at the Green Toronto Awards ceremony on April 23, 2010 at the Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place. The public is welcome to attend the ceremony, which begins at 7 p.m.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Simone Dalton, Media Relations Officer, Toronto Community Foundation

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Jacob Travis was working as a headhunter for the solar energy industry when he attended the CanSIA conference last December. "The were 2,500 people there, and I had a lot of the major solar companies asking if I could find them people for two jobs: Design engineers... and project managers." When he went looking as a recruiter, Travis found a sever shortage of qualified people in Ontario.

As Ontario's world-leading feed-in tariff system reaches implementation, we'll need a lot of qualified people to build and install sustainable energy infrastructure -- a shortage identified by CanSIA in a three-year market survey. That's why Travis set up the Ontario Solar Academy to fill the skills gap. Working from a hotel, the Celevland-and-Toronto based Travis set up a website and recruited an instructor. The first month's class in February saw its 28 spots filled in two weeks. A class of 25 in March sold out too, and Travis says the April class's 25 slots are almost full.

Demand is so high -- and only likely to grow -- that the Solar Academy has secured a lease on a facility on Vaughan to be a permanent home as the company expands in May.

So far, Ontario Solar Academy employs three people in Toronto on a contract basis. Travis expects to see substantial hiring as the new facility opens, and excitedly rhymes off a list of upcoming initiatives, including an apprenticeship program launching this month, an alumni network and a new affiliated company, Ontario Solar Solutions, of which he says, "Our business is to support other solar businesses." And right now, it looks like the number of solar businesses will only continue to grow.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Jacob Travis, Director, Ontario Solar Academy

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Sempa Power announced a partnership with the Ontario Clean Water Agency this week to create a pilot project to demonstrate the "capacity for water systems to provide demand-based ancillary services... to Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator (OIESO)."

"By opening up the market to demand-side innovation, Ontario's IESO has turned the page for the next generation of smart grid services. Sempa is pleased to work with OCWA to exhibit how Ontario's water and wastewater resources can be a valuable tool in provincial energy management and the adoption of sustainable energy," said Sempa president and CEO Ron Dizy in a release.

Sempa was founded in 2004 to find ways to reduce energy use in buildings, and patented the Hybrid Heating System. According to spokesperson Holly Dillinger, the company currently has 20 employees, six of those in the GTA. Based on the anticipated success of the pilot project, the company plans to more than double it's workforce in the near future to 45.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Holly Dollinger, Sempa Power

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As part of what he calls a "cradle to cradle" strategy, Jim Ecclestone, president of funiture manufacturer Calstone Inc in Scarborough, has implemented a zero-waste strategy to take back and reuse all of the products it manufactures.

"Every day in the paper you read about global warming," Ecclestone says, "and I had to start thinking about the kind of company we'd be in 25 years," when his children are in charge, he says. A manufacturer of institutional furniture, Calstone has been in business since the mid-1980s. Recently, however, its drive to sustainability was spurred on when York University asked the company to take back some of the (still perfectly usable) furniture it had purchased due to a renovation. "We looked at it and turned it apart and it was as good as new -- we were able to reuse about 80 per cent of it in brand new products," he says.

That led to the current initiative, which pledges that 0 per cent of Calstone's products will end up in landfill. The company will take back every product it sells (paying a $15-per-item fee) and reuse all elements of the product. It's part of a larger strategy that includes recycling rainwater, a heat exchange system, and a living wall. Ecclestone says the company hopes to reach a zero emissions target for its factory soon.

The sustainable growth isn't just good citizenship, of course. Ecclestone says that in reusing perfectly sound materials he's able to save on manufacturing costs. And besides that, his company's green credentials make their products all the more attractive to potential buyers. A new contract to supply all of Pitney-Bowes' furniture, for example, can be partly attributed to sustainability. The company reached a low of 28 employees after the financial crisis of 2008, but saw employment grow by eight staff members last year. Ecclestone expects to hire significantly more employees in 2010.

"Trying to put a dollar value on what green initiatives have given us -- it's a little early," he says. "But all signs are that it's a big positive for business."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Jim Ecclestone, President, Calstone Inc.

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SwapSity, a new website based in downtown Toronto, aims to allow Canadians to barter with one another instead of simply buying products.

"I wanted to make swapping accessible for Canadian consumers," says company founder Marta Nowinska. "There's lots of bartering that takes place among corporations, but up until now there's been nothing for consumers."

Nowinska suggests that the website could be a boon for job-seekers, who might swap labour in exchange for goods while they are between stops on their career path.

The business is free for consumers and posters, and works on a Free Economics model that charges for advertising and premium features.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Marta Nowinska, founder, SwapSity

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The Ontario Electronic Stewardship announced Phase II of its ambitious and growing recycling program late last week. At 500 locations across Ontario -- including dozens in the GTA -- people can now drop off electronics including mp3 players, radios, computers and televisions.

The OES, based in Toronto's financial district, is an industry organization of retailers and manufacturers formed to divert toxic material from landfill and to comply with the provincial Waste Diversion Act in 2007. Phase one of the program, dealing with household hazardous waste, was launched in April 2009.

"Nearly four in five Ontario households (78 per cent) have at least one electronic product that is not working or not being used. This program makes recycling easier and encourages consumers and businesses to do what they can to help," said Carol Hochu, OES executive director, in announcing the program. "The reason to participate is simple -- it helps keep hazardous electronic equipment out of landfill, which leads to a greener, healthier environment."


Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Carol Hochu, Executive Director, Ontario Electronic Stewardship

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