“We’ve had tremendous growth and the team has done a great job—the staff, the leadership team, everybody’s just kind of cranking away,” but inclusion on the Inc. list was still a pleasant surprise, admits New Path Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Adam Garcia.

Since our previous profile, staff levels have increased from twenty people to roughly twenty-eight, and work is pouring in. Inc. pegged the company’s growth rate at over 250 percent. For all that, some things remain the same. The company still offers start-to-finish construction services, including general contracting, real estate advisory, and construction management. Some heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), demolition, and carpentry work are still self-performed, while other services like architectural, mechanical, plumbing, and earthwork excavation, are subcontracted. New Path continues to emphasize the use of advanced digital tools for scheduling, data-gathering, and reporting.

On top of this, the company ethos has not changed. New Path still takes something of a maverick approach, with a unique value proposition for clients. Garcia, who founded the company in May 2016 with his wife Alexa, has a degree from what is now the Driehaus College of Business at DePaul University in Chicago and a background in Wall Street banking, not construction. It is a similar story for many of the company’s top officials.

“I still believe very strongly that we’re just a different construction company. I don’t know any [other construction] company that has a leadership team with a Wall Street background. In today’s market, with [concerns about] interest rates and accessibility of capital, our background is highly beneficial because we can help clients with some of their capital issues, capital needs. I think that differentiator is a big deal,” says Garcia.

From a branch near Phoenix, Arizona, New Path can perform services “as far north and south as the U.S. border allows,” he continues.

The Arizona office handles the Southwestern region while Hanover Park takes care of the Midwest. At present, the company does not do much work on the East Coast but is happy to entertain plans to expand. It primarily serves the industrial, medical, food / hospitality, gas / service station, retail, and office markets.

“We really are a boutique group. We’re going to be bigger than most of the small guys and smaller than most of the big guys. Since New Path has gained notoriety, people come to us because of our reputation as dealmakers. People come to us because they want introductions. They know that we’re talking to a lot of the big corporate guys; we’re talking to a lot of the retailers, and a lot of the developers and capital groups. So, New Path has kind of become this intermediary for getting deals done. That’s a reputation that precedes us when we walk into a room,” says Garcia.

The company excels at close client support while remaining flexible. “If you come to New Path, you get as much or as little attention as you like. Some people say, ’I already have a set of plans. I know your reputation. I just want to build with you guys.’ Some people come in and say, ‘I don’t know where to start.’ We have the ability to do everything from start to finish,” says Vice President of Business Development, Justin Beyer.

New Path has worked on a wide range of projects from gas stations to medical centers, retail spaces, and offices. “We have more projects running together than we ever had. Last year, we ran more projects than we ever did. We’re growing responsibly. We’re not taking every project on, but the ones we do take on, our target is to really hit them out of the park,” Garcia states.

With an eye on new opportunities, the company launched a low-voltage division to serve commercial properties last year. New Path will design and install low voltage infrastructures such as fire alarms, cabling, fiber networking, televisions, or camera systems.

“Low-voltage is kind of one of those grey areas in the construction process. A lot of times, the owner will not have its GC [general contractor] do it,” notes Garcia.

So far, the low-voltage division has proven popular. “It’s doing really well. People like our offering. It’s been a cool addition,” he says, adding that New Path might eventually spin off this segment as “a separate entity.”

Interestingly, the low-voltage division was not the only start-up with which the company has been involved last year. In 2021, it also founded a firm called Metaverse Design + Studio (MVD Studio), which uses three-dimensional visualization software to depict construction projects.

Metaverse Design + Studio can offer a dramatic visual component to architectural plans with commercial and residential conceptual design packages that include three-dimensional modeling, PDF site plans and floor plans, and video animation. Clients can visit the MVD Studio office, put on an ocular virtual reality headset, and take a visual tour of what a building will look like once completed.

“I would say Metaverse is probably our biggest and most profound subset. While it’s not owned by New Path, it did come out of New Path headquarters. That business is an answer to a problem that’s existed in the market for years. It helps clients visualize what their project is going to look like,” states Garcia.

In another development, New Path has become a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) with the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC). Garcia is of Colombian descent and the MBE tag gives the firm some benefits in terms of networking, contacts, and contracts.

The advent of COVID caused some headaches which linger today. To ensure safety among staff, the company instituted hand-washing protocols, sanitation stations, and mask-wearing for in-field work. While construction was not shut down, some companies that manufacture construction equipment or provide supplies closed temporarily. New Path continues to deal with pandemic-related issues such as labor shortages and material pricing.

Concerns about general economic uncertainty abound as well. “Every single day, something changes. Gas prices go up. It’s important to understand economics. If gas goes up, what else happens? All the machines that lay concrete use diesel. So, if gas goes up, diesel goes up. That means the price of concrete goes up,” says Garcia. “When there are labor disputes and interest rate hikes, that impacts lease rates… When interest rates are up, people pay more to buy materials, which means they have to pass that on.”

Under such circumstances, “Our background as Wall Street and finance and business professionals really comes to play, because we’re coming up with strategies,” he says.

That said, as New Path grows, the firm is looking for more than Wall Street veterans and graduates of top-tier universities to add to its ranks. “If you’re coming in to be a project manager, you definitely have to have project management experience… but if you’re coming in to do marketing for us or entry-level construction, attitude is the biggest thing. We want people who want to make a living but also want to make an impact. That’s what we focus recruiting around. We want someone who is passionate about what they do,” Garcia explains.

He retains a highly optimistic outlook. The plan is to grow in a controlled fashion without abandoning the company’s roots while keeping a close watch on new business prospects. For the next five years, New Path will emphasize, “continued growth, finding the right clients and right partners in business, and opening up in other cities as well. Within that five-year period, we could also have an investment branch,” he says.

“We’re always looking for opportunities, whether that means buying into a subcontracting company or buying another construction company. We have a pretty heavy appetite for expansion and growth, and that will be our next focus for the next five years.”

The post Innovative Construction Firm Continues to Take New Paths<p class="company">New Path Construction and Consulting</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Vice President Patrick McMahon says that the company has maintained its growth for twenty-five years and is pushing forward into a new era. “We have certainly travelled with the increased demands on EPS, and we have certainly been part of that increased growth through homebuilding,” he says.

Amvic’s story began in 1997 when founder Dr. Victor Amend applied his Ph.D. in building science to the private sector. Steady growth followed, with Amend himself providing much of the fledgling company’s research and development. Today, Amvic operates two plants in Ontario, a third in Calgary, and a licensed production facility in Utah to supply the U.S. market.

As Amvic celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary, the company is hardly resting on its laurels. McMahon sums up how the company is celebrating in a single word: “quietly.” He and his colleagues recognize more than ever the issues facing our world today and are always refining what makes Amvic stand out—its innovation, design, customer service, and quality.

“We’re continually evaluating what we do and raising the bar to be better,” he says, adding that Amvic is committed to creating and manufacturing products that improve comfort, quality, resilience and performance; we do it every day,” proud to have bettered the well-being of anyone who has used its products in their buildings. “It’s been a quiet celebration for the company but, that said, it’s also one of great pride.”

As part of its ongoing product development, Amvic is offering two new products to help its clients and end-users increase the quality, efficiency and sustainability of their building envelopes. The additions of Envirostrap and Amrad will further raise Amvic’s ability to offer versatile building envelope improvements at manageable costs.

Envirostrap combines the insulation of EPS with the support of two integrated plywood furring strips. These deliver a dual solution, incorporating both insulation and finish attachment surfaces and are applicable in both above grade and below grade interior applications. The furring strips can either protrude from the foam surface or be fully recessed within it, for exterior cladding installation.

Amvic’s newest development is Amrad, insulation paneling designed to mitigate and remove radon gas. Amrad replaces the need for 4” (102mm) gravel and a dedicated soil gas retarding membrane. This panelized solution with its unique channel design, void percentage, film and foam density creates a strong and durable panel, giving builders the ability to build an insulated concrete slab while meeting radon building code requirements and improving the interior air quality for the occupants.

The panel is 48×48” (1219x1219mm), molded from high-density, closed-cell, Type II EPS insulation. Amrad comes as a 3.5” (89mm) thick panel at R12 (RSI 2.11) and is also available in 4.5” (114mm), R16 (RSI 2.82) panel.

McMahon notes that these products, like many in Amvic’s lineup, reflect the company’s goal of improving the building envelope. “When you look at all the components of our products, they’ll all have a degree of enhancing that envelope, one way or the other,” he says. “Comfort, quiet, safe, energy-efficient and responsible, resilient to weather extremes.”

To ensure adequate production levels, and that costs remain manageable for end-users, which is more important than ever in today’s economy, Amvic is investing in automation. This evolution has been in two distinct parts: firstly, and more visibly, is robotic manufacturing equipment to accelerate and enhance production.

Secondly—and more behind-the-scenes—is Amvic’s investment into automation software to aid in all company operations, from warehousing management to lead management to communications with customers. In McMahon’s words, “these investments increase Amvic’s productivity, quality, and business intelligence, improving our customers’ experience working with us. We want to make sure we are able to improve our efficiency so we can improve our costs and provide a better product to the marketplace,” he says. “We also want to ensure that we are accurate, so the degree of accuracy is important to us.”

Additionally, Amvic advances its shipping and receiving processes, essential in an era of supply chain snags, with more of its product coming and going from its plants. “How do we streamline that process?” he asks rhetorically. “How do we take away time delays wherever we can? How do we move product in and out of our plant in an expedient manner?”

While more recent months have offered expansion opportunities to add new distributors, McMahon cautions that it is easy to be overstretched and not be able to provide the same level of service. “At the end of the day, you can only take on so much demand, and you only have access to so much raw material,” he says. “Focus on your current customer as they will be the ones with you for the long term.”

This commitment to quality reflects the company’s history as a company focused on innovation and design. McMahon says that, “in reality, we design exceptional products, then we had to become an excellent manufacturer to ensure the quality and supply chain were in our control. We became a manufacturer to support our products, our innovation.”

Finally, he notes the paramount importance of a strong communications policy and strategy. “Communication is more than just a greeting, more than just celebrating the wins,” he remarks. “Communication is being able to have tough conversations, to be truthful, mindful, and empathetic to those around you.”

Forged during the tough days of COVID, he relates that Amvic’s communication strategy evolved to not assuage staff with vague promises but to lay out the occasionally unpleasant truth, get ahead of the curve, be straight, be honest. “For us, communication was really critical, and the company put a lot of focus and a lot of discipline around that.”

As Amvic celebrates twenty-five years, McMahon retains a quiet pride in the accomplishments of his colleagues. “If I’m going to celebrate anything on our twenty-fifth anniversary, it’s the fact that our people put customers and other employees first; they are focused on not disappointing those that have always supported us. The dedication, perseverance, and resilience of the staff has been amazing. This is worth celebrating.”

He expresses confidence that Amvic’s ongoing commitment to quality over market penetration will continue to drive growth above all else, and give good returns. “People like our product, they like the design,” he says. “That has created significant growth for this company over the last twenty-five years, and it will continue.”

The post Pushing the Envelope of Building Envelopes<p class="company">Amvic Building System</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

This means Ontario’s energy system needs a significant overhaul, moving away from fossil fuels, which account for 76 percent of Ontario’s GHG emissions and 80 percent of total energy consumption.

Enter net zero homes, which produce exactly as much energy as they consume, making no net energy purchases from the power company. It’s a novel concept gaining acceptance as people grow increasingly interested in owning a home that is cost-effective to maintain as well as attractive and comfortable. Although challenging, it’s absolutely possible, and Enercare Home and Commercial Services has plenty of solutions to make it a reality.

Smart energy solutions

One of North America’s major providers of energy solutions for both residential and business services, Enercare serves 1.9 million consumers across Canada and the United States, selling, renting, repairing, and maintaining furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters, water treatment systems, and other HVAC devices.

“We’re going to see quite a demand in net zero being built in the province of Ontario,” says Nolan Leiska, Director of Builder Sales. “In 2022, probably about 300 to 350 net zero homes will be built here, and in 2023, we see that number closer to 800, based on permits. We know the building code is going to get to net zero by 2030 anyway, so some builders are being early adopters.”

Because net zero homes are made to be up to 80 percent more energy-efficient than typical homes, they start out using less energy. They can be positioned to better receive the sun’s warmth and light, a process called passive heating, and to retain heat in the winter and keep it out in the summer, they’re also exceptionally airtight and insulated.

Low-energy appliances, HVAC systems, and other electrical equipment are essential, and through technology, homeowners can regulate energy use by paying attention to how energy is consumed throughout the house.

Through solar panels, water management, smart devices, energy-efficient appliances, efficient lighting, and high-performance windows and doors, numerous ways can be found to create sustainable and comfortable living conditions.

Pressure on builders

“I think it’s also fair to say that builders are starting to feel increased pressure from their purchasers on sustainable development—that customers are looking for energy-efficient options not necessarily available in the market today,” says Scott Beneteau, Vice President, Commercial, Builder, and Strategic Partnerships. “I think that’s increasingly driving builders to start looking at heat pump technology, energy recovery ventilators, and smart home controls to manage the energy for end users.”

That includes HVAC and water heating solutions; Enercare is seeing an increasing demand for efficient, on-demand water heaters and boiler technology as opposed to less efficient, tank-style water heaters, for example.

“We’re seeing that early adopters are pushing the envelope in trying new products,” says Leiska. “For instance, we’re in the water heater business and we signed a deal for our first heat pump / hybrid-electric water heater.”

The big advantage with this kind of solution is that it isn’t gas fired; it’s essentially a renewable energy and can be used to heat the water of the home.

“I think we’ll end up seeing everything pushed to net zero electric that can be,” he adds. And once this is implemented, you should find only two gas-fired appliances in a home, one a heating source, like a small furnace, and the other a gas BBQ. Everything else should be electric.

An eye on the tariffs

To reduce monthly energy bills, families are also turning to smart home energy solutions like thermostats that can change settings automatically to meet changing energy requirements. Additionally, this technology can identify inefficiencies to reduce wasteful power, water, and gas usage. By running homes on smart technologies, energy consumption can be drastically reduced.

“Obviously, as these technologies continue to grow and we move away from natural gas and toward electrification, electricity tariff structures are increasingly important,” says Beneteau.

“There are new programs on the horizon that leverage battery technology. If you use it in your home, you get an off-peak discount on your electricity to allow you to store energy during the night or peak hours when it’s cheapest. It’s just common sense to streamline our electric base load and incentivize customers from a tariff point of view to deploy these technologies,” he says.

But it’s not just HVAC and water heating technologies at play; it’s on-site energy generation, including solar, says Beneteau. The next mass market products to follow will then likely be battery storage combined with smart panels to allow customers to store energy and have backup resilience for power outages.

“For example, we continue to see an increase in EVs (electric vehicles) being able to use the power stored in their batteries and feed it back into your home in times of an outage,” he says. “When I think about electrification, that’s really what jumps to my mind as the most likely next step.”

Following that would be central heating and cooling based on heat pump technology, which has come a long way in meeting the rigours of the Canadian winter, in particular.

The challenge of heating water

“There are very good technologies on the horizon, and I think water heating is likely the one to lag behind,” Beneteau shares. “Obviously it takes a lot of energy to heat water, and our expectations from a comfort perspective are that we have a voluminous, ready-at-hand supply of hot water. So there’s work to be done on the water heating side as it relates to electrification.”

Additionally, electricity is expensive in Ontario, so, in the formulation of public policy at the provincial and federal level, the cost of electricity itself will be a large factor, along with the carbon tax.

“There needs to be some reasonable offset, or something approaching parity, between electricity and natural gas to really get customers and builders to take up that option,” says Beneteau. “We also need to educate and convince customers that this is a good idea for the future.”

With respect to water heating, he thinks there will be a share of scepticism if electricity is the fuel that can ultimately deliver the volume of hot water we have come to expect in Canada at a price that people are willing to pay.

“As it stands today there’s a trade-off,” adds Leiska. “You can be more energy-efficient and feel good about not using fossil fuels, but you won’t feel super good when you have to take a cold shower because demand can’t keep up.”

The use of electricity for water heating certainly brings some significant challenges. Can it be done? Absolutely, says Beneteau, but you need large electrical coils to do it, which drives high costs and a heavy demand on the electricity grid.

“There are obvious challenges we’re going to face with electrification given the demands of hot water heating and the increased capital cost of acquiring these electrical heat pump technologies as compared to a conventional gas-fired system,” he says.

Heat pumps as standard

The industry is moving slowly, but there’s certainly demand, particularly in high-rise new construction where heat pumps are increasingly becoming standard, which is good to see. “High-rise new construction is an area where I expect to see tremendous growth in heat pump and smart tech deployments,” says Beneteau. “High-rise developers are building product that offers greater energy efficiency and long-term operating cost savings; however, property managers will need more support to help manage these increasingly sophisticated and connected HVAC systems,” he shares.

“One of the core pillars of our company is affordable sustainability,” says Beneteau. “What’s the mix of technologies that will ultimately get our customers to have a more sustainable home, but be able to do it in an affordable way?”

He thinks the answer is natural-gas water heating as the standard for the foreseeable future, increasingly moving to centralized heat pump technologies. However, that should be paired with battery and smart home panel technologies that offer the insights and actionable intelligence that customers need to run a home more effectively, and ultimately take some accountability for their energy consumption.

“It’s going to take a mix of technologies to deliver the affordable part of our sustainability goal.”

Leiska agrees, adding that educating the customer is vital, as most don’t know what appliances are out there.

Aiming for net zero

“Other than buying something with an Energy Star sticker and feeling good about that, you really don’t know what energy drives your day-to-day life,” he says. “Part of our smart technology would be telling you where you’re using most of your energy so you can pay attention to it. If your washing machine uses the most electricity, maybe you should be doing laundry loads at different times of the day.”

Smart home scheduling is going to be critical to managing overall energy consumption, along with heat pump technology and likely, a gas-fired, energy-efficient water heater, says Beneteau. “I think that’s a setup that can get you, if not entirely to net zero, then pretty close.”

Leiska agrees. “It’s like monitoring the performance of your home. It’s absolutely done through a combination of electric and gas and the cleanest kind of energy you can put in—and the most affordable kind of energy is electricity.”

After heating is taken care of, water will be the next challenge, says Beneteau, including wastewater conservation, and reusing the water inside the home, more goals and challenges that Enercare is looking to tackle.

“We see ourselves as a leader, somebody our customers are looking to to bring new technologies, new control systems and ultimately, deliver on the affordable sustainability that we’ve really turned our mind to,” he says.

What Beneteau would like to see includes at least a third of the construction business in the next five years moving forward with net zero configuration, or at least starting down the path at some of their sites, making them net-zero ready with devices in place and properly configured.

In the meantime, there’s work to be done on keeping our living spaces as clean and green as possible.

“Smart panels and batteries, grey water capture, and recycling,” he says. “That’s a huge step to affordable sustainability for our customers. Our ambitions in the next five years are to get a third of our customers taking meaningful steps toward net zero, or at a minimum, net-zero ready.”

The post Turning the Energy Tide with Net Zero Homes<p class="company">Enercare</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Expanded polystyrene can be shaped into almost anything from packaging to design accents and insulation in construction. This gives Benchmark Foam an edge with an impressive choice of products from high-end construction innovations to dock floats, pitching mounds, cake forms, and much more.

Along with a diverse range of proprietary products, Benchmark Foam is known for its phenomenal quality. Clients come from across the United States and Canada for its foam-core signs. Due to the popularity, the company established an independent division, Signs By Benchmark, in 2007 to support the growth.

For anyone who has seen the Dunkin’ in Roswell, New Mexico, the coffee and doughnut shop’s green alien sign holder is sure to have made an impression. As unique as the city itself, the 26-foot extraterrestrial made from EPS is the result of months of engineering by Benchmark Foam’s experts.

“The planning that took place just to assemble it on top of the actual finishing work was outstanding. The team took a chance on this project, and it paid off for everyone involved, as the finished product is now a local landmark for selfie-enthusiasts,” says Benchmark Foam’s President Robert Reiter. This, just one of the company’s recent achievements, landed it the top project for 2019 by Sign Builder Illustrated magazine.

Also sold throughout North America is its patented Thermo-Snap, a high density, in-floor heat insulation that holds pex tubing in situ. The product saves labor, materials and time. Other products that contribute to the company’s growth are its protective packaging and construction grade insulation for commercial, residential and industrial buildings. Another proprietary product, eps360®, is made entirely from recycled expanded polystyrene.

“White EPS foam can be recycled, and while we serve as a regional recycling center, we encourage other molders across the country to implement a recycling program in their respective facilities to support EPS recycling nationwide,” says Marketing Manager Jacquie Devine. The company was recognized with the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ award for its environmentally conscious operations in 2005.

After more than 32 years in the industry, Benchmark Foam prides itself on the diverse product offering that all begins with a granular raw material and transforms into a variety of shapes and sizes to solve customer problems. The material is safe, versatile, cost-effective, durable and eco-friendly as recycling initiatives can keep it out of landfills. EPS also saves enormous amounts of energy through its powerful insulation properties and helps to create healthy living environments by reducing mildew occurrence in buildings.

Along with providing superior quality, Benchmark Foam aims to contribute to its clients’ bottom lines as it builds relationships. To ensure that the customer’s needs are met, the company goes to great lengths to research requirements and challenges. Other services it offers include training and support for its clients’ end users.

Benchmark Foam also sets itself apart from the competition with its shipping strategy, including an on-time delivery guarantee that is unique to the industry. Complete with its own fleet of trucks, Benchmark Foam delivers irrespective of the size of the order.

In addition, the company regularly invests in the latest technology. Its most recent acquisition is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to support future growth with precise reporting and efficiency gains.

Benchmark Foam has also collaborated with three North American companies to create Stronghold ICF, a maker of insulated concrete forms (ICF). “Our block has features and benefits that are new to the industry. We’re unique in that our product was created from people that have used many, if not all, of the other blocks and aims to remedy points of frustration of the other blocks,” says Reiter.

The company invested time and resources for months to create the ultimate insulated concrete form to avoid the frustrations of the standard forms available in the construction market today. “Stronghold believes that its customers deserve a better ICF, and now we can offer one to them,” Reiter adds. Construction professionals were ready for a product that takes the concern out of concrete forms, and the market’s positive response has been equivalent to a standing ovation.

Another addition is a new range of equipment that has allowed it to expand its packaging offerings. For low-to-mid-volume shipping, its Foam-In-Place creates custom packaging without a high cost. This product is created by mixing two liquid foam solutions inside a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bag or film. The resulting foam, while contained within the film, expands to fill the shipping space, perfectly protecting the item being sent.

The company has a long history of new ideas. It began in 1977 as Energy Industries. Change came in 1988 when a group of forward-thinking employees decided to take over the company, developing a smart diversification policy when Benchmark Foam was born. In 2021, the company is still under the ownership of the families who bought in the eighties.

Its employees are as much a part of the Benchmark family as the owners themselves, and the company is proud to announce that it did not lay off any of its almost one hundred staff members during the recent pandemic. “We have a great mixture of tenured staff and new employees in our company. We have found that finding the right mix of personalities is very important to maintaining the family culture that is valued by our entire team,” says Reiter.

The company’s leadership team goes the extra mile to ensure that its people remain motivated and passionate, and showing appreciation for them is a large part of this. “Ensuring people are in positions to be successful and supporting growth opportunities have been instrumental for us,” Reiter says. The company holds quarterly team-building experiences that allow people to relax together and have a laugh. “We’ve also found that having the right communication at the proper intervals makes a huge difference to keep morale up and the team motivated.”

Benchmark Foam contributes to several good causes annually, including driving recycling initiatives in local communities. Some of the organizations that benefit from its generosity include Habitat for Humanity – which awarded it the ‘Partner of the Year’ award in 2007 – United Way, and Toys for Tots. Employees are known for pulling together to raise funds for special causes, further binding the group together.

The company’s president sees the EPS industry growing in the future, especially when it comes to providing the packaging and construction industries with more solutions. Looking at the year ahead, the company is working to continue its 2020 trend of gaining more diverse clients. “Customer service will always be a focus for us. We want to be the solution providers to our customers,” Reiter says. With its emphasis on maintaining its family atmosphere, quality, and diversification, Benchmark Foam has a solid plan for the year ahead.

The post Diversifying for Growth<p class="company">Benchmark Foam</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Clean energy developer Grasshopper Energy Corporation currently owns over $1 billion of assets across Canada, the United States, and Japan, with a development pipeline of $6.5 billion. The company is actively developing projects in core solar markets throughout these countries and is continuing expansion into targeted markets like Brazil, Italy, Vietnam, and Australia.

The company has developed, constructed, and managed over 4000 solar residential projects and 200 commercial projects in Ontario alone, effectively employing thousands of people without relying on government assistance to fund its operations.

Grasshopper Energy was founded in 2007 by Azeem M. Qureshi, a mechatronics and artificial intelligence specialist who previously advised Fortune 500 companies on how to optimize their business process management. Over time, he noted increasing interest in corporate social responsibility in the industry but felt that companies were treating the concept as a trendy, inconsequential part of their business, instead of an integral aspect of their operations. Quershi decided, upon leaving this advisory position, to form Grasshopper, a company that would embrace corporate social responsibility at a fundamental level.

The initial vision for the company, Quershi says, was to “take the complicated patchwork of sustainability incentives that were being offered at the time by federal, provincial, and local governments, and ensure they were conveniently and efficiently delivered to the public.” Grasshopper also performed energy audits for the Canadian National Railway and in the residential sector, where the company would evaluate a building’s overall efficiency and suggest ideas of how to make it greener.

Over time, Grasshopper’s business shifted its focus to developing solar projects at both the micro and macro levels. The company sought to set itself apart from others in the sector by offering a unique combination of expertise in the technological, regulatory, and finance aspects of solar development. Grasshopper’s Senior Vice President of Global Government Relations Tudor Ulianovschi asserts that, “Our ultimate goal is to accelerate the fight against climate change by reducing the carbon footprint of companies around the globe, and Grasshopper has been incredibly successful in that regard.”

In the last year, Grasshopper has joined the Ontario Energy Council and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) – the national trade association of the U.S. solar energy industry. The company has also invested in a large portfolio of solar projects throughout Pennsylvania.

Ulianovschi proudly touts the company’s work with the United Nations and the organization’s commitment to sustainable energy. Following the UN’s ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,’ which set 17 interlinked global goals to address some of the world’s most pressing issues – chief among them climate change – Grasshopper has committed to helping the world fully implement these international climate commitments.

“In Canada and abroad, public support for clean energy is higher than it has ever been and continues to grow,” says Ulianovschi. As of April 2020, nearly 1,500 jurisdictions in 29 countries have issued declarations of climate emergency, many of which include plans and targets for more renewable energy-based systems.

Clean energy is also more cost-effective than it has ever been, as wind and solar energy prices are comparable with conventional sources of electricity generation, and wind energy is now Canada’s lowest-cost source of new generating capacity. Ulianovschi observes that the cost of generating power from solar power has fallen by 90 percent since 2010, and the prices of onshore wind and solar are now even with gas power and cheaper than coal and nuclear power.

“Canada is undergoing a fundamental transition in how it generates, manages, and uses energy,” Ulianovschi says, and the rest of the world is starting to follow suit thanks to the work of Grasshopper and other companies in the sustainable energy sector. “If the average person cannot afford clean energy, we will not be able to put [these programs] into action, no matter how good it is for the environment. Because of this reality, at Grasshopper, it is important to us to take the products in the marketplace… and using our technological, financing, and regulatory expertise, deliver an elegant and cost-effective solution to various consumers.”

Grasshopper has also been at the forefront of several initiatives in its local community. In 2019, the company invested over $100 million into the Ontario economy via its renewable infrastructure projects, providing opportunities to more than 5,000 workers with a strong emphasis on employing female and minority workers.

The company has also flexed its philanthropic muscle with regular donations to organizations like The War Amps and local food banks. In 2020, Grasshopper contributed over $50,000 to the Mississauga Food Bank and donated more than 10,000 surgical masks and additional COVID-19 protective equipment to local Ontario hospitals.

Ulianovschi considers the company’s biggest challenge to be that people from all walks of life do not understand the gravity of the climate change crisis, and unremitting debate on the matter leads to unproductive divisiveness. “Most of the other challenges we face as a company or as a sector tend to precipitate from that root cause,” he explains.

A hostile stance in any given region to fighting climate change tends to choke potential capital for sustainable energy measures and drive it to more climate-friendly markets. This leads to price increases for clean solutions and low adoption rates in those markets, slowing or preventing volume pricing from ever being achieved. “All of us, including the clean energy sector, our partners in government, the media, and elsewhere must do more to educate people about climate change,” Ulianovschi emphasizes.

He knows that the message must be conveyed to reach even the harshest sceptics. This means that the shift to clean energy must not be put forth as an extreme, overnight proposition. Clean energy proponents must highlight how powerful clean energy can be in creating jobs and driving economic growth, to naturally sway lead manufacturers and providers away from fossil fuel dependence.

As 2021 begins, Grasshopper will deploy more clean energy assets around the world. Ulianovschi sees South America as a market for serious consideration where the company intends to “put shovels in the ground,” as he puts it. Grasshopper plans to continue raising capital for further development while increasing education about climate change. Additionally, the company will continue to advocate for clean energy on the global stage, working with international bodies like the UN to further educate about the climate crisis and “to accelerate the development of a sustainable world” – the company’s vision statement.

“In 2021, we are focused on business development, community engagement… exploring different clean energy technologies, like batteries, storage, and [electric vehicle] charging,” Ulianovschi says of carbon reduction technologies.

The company has received multiple national industry awards for its ongoing efforts, including being recognized as the solar innovator of the year, project finance innovator of the year, and solar developer of the year by the Canadian Solar Industries Association (CSIA). But the Grasshopper Energy team is trying to achieve much more than acknowledgment; they understand that climate change is the defining issue of our time. Grasshopper’s goals for the industry are as vast as its global reach, and its entire team remains motivated to provide a more sustainable world and a greener future for all.

“Climate change impacts our communities, planet, children, and future generations. We are doing this for the well-being of our local and global community,” states Ulianovschi.

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