Nowadays, it seems like there are easy green options for just about everything.
There are environmentally friendly, soaps, cars, toilets, bags and jewellery products readily available to the average consumer.
“Whatever it is, there’s always been an environmental choice,” says Tom Heintzman, president of Bullfrog Power.
The exception has always been electricity.
“Electricity has always been one-size-fits-all, even though it’s one of the biggest parts of an individuals environmental footprint.”
It’s possible to generate one's own power by installing wind turbines or solar panels, but it’s initially expensive and difficult to power a home or business this way, he says.
But as Bullfrog Power’s co-founder, Heinztman has a solution that allows customers to get green energy without having to make drastic changes in their lives.
As Canada’s only 100 per cent green energy provider, the Toronto-based company ensures customers that for every unit of energy they use, Bullfrog will inject the same amount of green power into the provincial grid on their behalf. By the nature of the electricity grid, it is impossible to send only green power to a particular home or business.
Customers throughout Ontario, Alberta and recently British Columbia can receive this service.
About 8,000 homes and 800 businesses, mostly in Ontario, are powered by Bullfrog and it is growing, says Heintzman.
“Renewable power is a pretty small market right now and in 20 years, it’s going to be the majority of our supply, so the trajectory is definitely up for the foreseeable future,” says Heintzman.
To have the service, an average family in a four-bedroom home has to pay about $1 a day.
The company has attracted attention recently by having the 2009 Juno Awards powered by Bullfrog. Some businesses such as the TD Bank and Wal-Mart have also made the switch.
All the electricity is produced from wind or low-impact hydro facilities that meet or exceed Environment Canada’s standard to be classified as renewable electricity.
“I think people, on a daily basis, read about environmental issues in the paper and see them on TV and they feel powerless over these huge global problems,” says Heintzman. “Companies like Bullfrog Power provide tangible, practical, easy solutions that anybody can take advantage of in order to make a difference and that can be very empowering for individuals.”
www.bullfrogpower.com
