That’s the philosophy behind the demand response programs introduced by the Ontario Power Authority. Demand response works by having major power users reduce their electricity consumption at certain times when called upon by the OPA. That allows the OPA to avoid straining

Toyota Boshoku's Jason Psutka is excited by the possibilities for reducing energy demand at the Elmira manufacturing plant.

Ontario’s grid during peak demand times, like the hot hazy days of summer when everyone cranks up their air conditioners.

Toyota Boshoku Elmira recently signed on to take part in OPA’s DR3 program, which sees participants cut their energy use over a four-hour period when asked. Jason Psutka, the company’s environmental officer, explained that Toyota Boshoku recently installed a building management system, which made it possible to be part of a demand reduction program.

“We can turn off lots of things with the flick of a switch, which made it easy to comply with such a request,” he said.

Toyota Boshoku has agreed to adjust heating and cooling set points in the office and plant. That could mean pre-cooling the plant earlier in the day, then turning off the air conditioning during the four-hour time frame.

“We think we can offer other things here, including turning off non-essential items,” Psutka said. “We also have electric tow motors here, so perhaps we could only charge batteries during non-heavy times. We think we could add those things in the future.”

Toyota Boshoku signed on with an aggregator, EnerNOC, rather than the OPA itself. There are a handful of aggregators in the province who sign contracts with companies, pool the contracts together, and offer them to the OPA as a block to call upon when needed.

John Carter, business development manager for EnerNOC, said the program is open to any entity – manufacturer, store or shopping mall, or institution like a hospital – that can reduce its energy load by approximately 100 to 200 kilowatts.

Companies are compensated for signing the agreement, even if there are no peak demand events that require them to reduce their usage. If they are called on to reduce their load, the OPA, through the aggregator, pays for the electricity they didn’t use.

Psutka said the deal is a win-win for the province and the participants.

“It’s cheaper to pay for your non-use than it is to pay for peaking natural gas plants or building another nuclear reactor.”

A civil engineer by trade, Psutka has always been interested in energy use and efficiency, and how the company can save money by adopting new technologies. The first year that the production plant was put on a building management system, the company saved $30,000 on natural gas for heating, even after factoring in outside temperatures.

The plant recently started monitoring and controlling the pressure in the building. Plants typically have exhaust systems leading outside, with the result that pressure in the plant is slightly negative. When doors to the outside are opened, the hot or cold air rushes in. In a plant like Toyota-Boshoku Elmira, which has temperature-sensitive processes, that caused high scrap rates. Now the plant is pressurized, so there is no air flow in or out when a door is opened.

With an ever-brighter spotlight on climate change and carbon emissions, there has been a greater focus on reducing the company’s carbon footprint and a growing number of incentive programs to help make it possible.

That makes Psutka’s job all the more interesting. He’s currently evaluating different types of energy-efficient lighting for the plant, and would like to see the natural gas water heater in the front office replaced with solar water heating.

“The reason to be for any company is to make money, but if we can continue to make money as well as reduce, reuse, recycle, that’s fantastic and everybody wins.”

The Boyds own Arrow Tree, a business that specializes in planting and transplanting large trees. Their half-acre property in Orton, north of Guelph, is planted with a number of trees that clients have removed to make space for a pool, deck or addition to the house.

“We don’t like to just throw them out,” Rick explained. “It’s pointless to cut a tree if you don’t have to.”

Ruth and Rick Boyd's property is covered with mature trees moved from elsewhere, a service of their Arrow Tree operation.

However, their backyard is quickly running out of space and the Boyds are looking to move to a larger property closer to Elmira, where they’ll be able to give castoff trees a good home. They also use their property to showcase unique species like tricoloured beech, harlequin maple and gingko biloba.

The Boyds bought Arrow Tree from David and Betty Huck of West Montrose in April 2008. The business specializes in selling, planting and transplanting large trees with a spade.

The Hucks started Arrow Tree in 1991. David, a truck owner-operator, wanted to get out of the trucking business, so he had the sleeper removed from his truck and an 80-inch spade mounted on it.

A few years ago, Rick found himself in the same position: a truck owner-operator for 25 years, he was looking for a career change that would let him spend more time outdoors and be closer to his family as his twin daughters entered their teens. He’d always loved landscaping, so he and Ruth decided to take over the business.

David worked alongside Rick for the first two seasons, offering invaluable help and guidance. Rick had done a lot of landscaping around their home in Orton, but there was a steep learning curve when it came to working with a spade and mature trees, as well as running his own business.

People call Arrow Tree when they have large trees that need to be transplanted or want to get a jump on landscaping around a new house. Planting mature trees can blur some of the raw edges and make a new house look like it’s been there for years.

A lot of their customers come to Arrow Tree knowing exactly what they want, Rick said, and in many cases, they’re looking for trees they grew up with. Rick himself grew up in the city but he has fond memories of collecting acorns from the giant oaks that grew around his grandparents’ home.

In the past four or five years, there’s been more emphasis on planting native trees, which grow faster and are more resistant to disease.

The first season the Boyds owned Arrow Tree was a busy one. Things slowed down in the fall of 2008 and stayed slow through 2009, through a combination of the economic downturn and a cool, wet summer.

Rick is hoping that business will pick up this season now that the economy seems to have stabilized. The Boyds are looking forward to hiring their first student this summer, and are looking for an arboriculture student from Niagara College or an agriculture student from the University of Guelph. Rick also plans to put daughters Amy and Amber to work this summer doing lighter tasks like mulching.

While he’d like to see the business grow, Rick isn’t interested in owning a fleet of trucks and sending out crews of employees. The vast majority of Arrow Tree’s business comes from private homeowners and he likes to be personally involved in planting their trees.

“That’s the way the business was built – the personal touch – and that’s how it’s going to continue.”

As Spilek-Weiss Electric, the business has been a fixture in Elmira since it opened in 1983. After managing the retail side of the business for a decade, Pond bought it on Feb. 1. Vince Spilek and Dave Weiss have moved the electrical contracting side of the business to Howard Avenue.

Steve Pond bought the retail side of Spilek-Weiss Electric on Feb. 1, renaming the store Elmira Vacuum and Electrical.

The name change has already brought in new customers, Pond says; last week he had a call from a woman who had a broken vacuum stashed in the closet for three years, not realizing there was a place in town to have it repaired.

Pond learned his trade while working at Canadian Tire when it was still located in Elmira. When that store closed, he moved to the Canadian Tire store on Fairway Road in Kitchener. Managing the retail side of Spilek-Weiss offered the chance to work closer to home in Elmira.

Elmira Vacuum carries a full line of Eureka vacuums, from hand vacs to uprights, canisters and central vacuum systems. The big advantage to the Eureka line, Pond explained, is that it’s still possible to get parts in Canada. Manufacturers like Hoover and Dirt Devil have moved to the United States, but Eureka still has a location in Mississauga.

The vacuum side of the store has expanded in the decade that Pond has worked there. With tighter rules and stricter enforcement of electrical work, they see fewer do-it-yourselfers coming in for parts. However, the store still carries a selection of breakers, switch covers and PVC piping as well as lamp parts and lightbulbs.
In addition to the Eureka brand, Elmira Vacuum carries filters and bags for a number of other brands, and Pond does quotes and installations of central vacuum systems.

While it’s not viable to fix small appliances – you can buy a new toaster for less than it would cost to fix one – repairing a vacuum is still worth the customer’s while. Repairs and maintenance are done on-site, in the basement of the Church Street store, and every vacuum leaves the store ready to go, with no assembly required.

That service is what brings people into the downtown, explained Pond, a member of the Elmira BIA. His customers can buy products at box stores in the city, but when something doesn’t work, those same box stores can do little more than ship it off somewhere.

“The customers have the choice, but we get a lot of repeats with the service we offer.”

June Dippel is the manager of the new Highland Camera location in St. Clements, which offers custom framing as well as digital prints, passport photos and camera accessories.

Next to it is the same photograph, meticulously restored. The stains and cracks are gone, and the men’s faces are smooth and unblemished.

Photo restoration is one of the services being offered at the new store in St. Clements. Unlike today’s oft-photographed children, who have been well-documented since birth, baby boomers don’t have a lot of old photos. Photos from the 1970s in particular were very brittle and easily damaged, explained owner Nusrat Govindji. That’s where Highland Camera comes in. They can remove stains and fix cracks, even reconstruct missing faces using other photographs.

Along with the restoration service, Highland Camera offers passport and firearms license photos, custom framing, and enlargements. There is a studio for portraits, and they offer digital prints in minutes or next-day pickup.
Nusrat and her husband Nizar started Highland Camera on Highland Road in Kitchener in 1988. They had owned a Japan Camera in downtown Kitchener, and wanted to start their own business instead of being part of a franchise. Now they’re expanding to the Foodland plaza in St. Clements to serve the Wellesley area.

“We felt there was nothing to serve the towns around here,” Nusrat said. “People have to drive somewhere to get stuff like passport photos.”

For photographers looking for a special touch, they offer prints on canvas, prints on glass and prints on metallic paper. They sell a selection of frames and do custom framing, for needlework and sports jerseys as well as photographs. They also do video transfer, from 8mm, VHS or slides to DVD.

Highland Camera was one of the first places to allow people to upload their photos online for developing. That service will be available at the new store as well, by visiting www.shutterbug.ca and specifying pickup in St. Clements.

The store sells camera accessories such as batteries, chargers and media cards, and they have a full range of cameras at the Kitchener location. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, Nusrat said, just ask.

Nizar has been a photographer for 30 years, in England and Toronto before they moved to Kitchener. The Govindjis also run Studio 370, which offers wedding photography, graduation and business portraits.
June Dippel, manager of the St. Clements store, is also interested in photography and specializes in landscapes and digital modification.

First-hand experience with photography means they take pride in the quality of their prints and test-print everything, Nusrat explained.

“Because we have photographers working with us, we always make sure we have the best quality,” she said. “We have always based our business on service and quality, and that’s the reason we have been able to succeed.”

Nelson Wideman, one of the organizers behind St. Jacobs Produce, said the new business should complement the Elmira Produce Auction rather than compete with it. Where the produce auction runs two or three days a week, the wholesale operation would cater to buyers who need produce on a daily basis or don’t have time to attend the auction.

Stuart Martin’s potato packing warehouse on Hawkesville Road west of St. Jacobs is set to become the location of a new wholesale produce business.

“There’s two different groups of buyers and sellers,” Wideman said. “Some really like the auction concept and some do not. I see no reason why there’s not room for both businesses working side by side.”

The organizers hope to have the new produce venture up and running in time for this summer’s harvest. About 30 local farmers have expressed interest in the venture, although none have committed yet.

“I’d say that’s a start and we can grow from there.”

The business will cater to anyone that buys wholesale produce, Wideman said, from restaurants and stores to distributors and market vendors. The operation format will be flexible, with buyers able to call ahead and have orders prepared or simply walk through the doors and buy what they need.

Prices at the wholesale outlet will largely reflect wholesale prices in Toronto, with some room for adjustment according to local supply and demand.

They already have a location picked out: a 12,917-square-foot, climate-controlled potato packing warehouse on Hawkesville Road, just west of St. Jacobs. The owner, Stuart Martin, is phasing out potatoes in favour of crop production for cattle.

The idea is to have some produce available year-round – things like potatoes, cabbage, squash and onions – that can be stored through the winter.

“We won’t be selling any imported strawberries in December,” Wideman said.

The business will also sell hanging baskets and bedding plants in springtime.

The new operation has been in the works for three or four months, with Wideman and four others taking on the task of getting it off the ground. The group moved a step closer Jan. 19, when Woolwich council approved a recommendation from planning staff to amend the zoning bylaw for the property. The temporary-use bylaw allows the site to be used for a wholesale produce operation for three years.

Wideman was one of the planners behind the Elmira Produce Auction Cooperative, which launched in 2004. Over the six years it has been in operation, he realized there was demand for another type of produce business.

“I was just seeing too many markets that weren’t being serviced with just the one business. I was hoping if EPAC can keep on serving their group of buyers, the new business would capture some of the markets that were missing.”

The “buy local” movement has boosted demand for local produce, Wideman said, but price is often the determining consideration.

“Sometimes people really want to support local produce, but when it comes down to price and they realize they can get it elsewhere, the temptation is still there to buy for price rather than local.”

That’s the main message that Tim Jackson will be delivering to a Chamber Young Professionals event organized by the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce Jan. 27.

Tim Jackson, a founder of Tech Capital Partners, will be sharing his thoughts about what it takes to succeed in a high-tech world as the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce hosts an event in St. Jacobs Jan. 27.

Jackson is one of the founders of Tech Capital Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in fledgling technology companies in Waterloo Region. He’s slated to speak about goal setting, how he does his yearly planning and how it has helped his success.

Jackson noted that it’s important to set goals to give yourself a meter to measure success by.

“If you just let things happen as they happen, you really don’t have a measure of whether you got where you expected to be or not.”

Setting firm goals also allows you to share your vision with others and ensure that everyone is one the same page.

Having served on the boards of a number of technology companies and not-for-profits, he stresses that it’s equally important to communicate – and over-communicate – to the other people involved.

“You can’t just ask people to do something or say ‘this is the goal or the objective,’ you’ve got to go the next step and explain why that’s important.”

He cites an example from a company that was often rushing to get orders out on the last day of the quarter to meet financial targets for investors.

“Instead of just saying to our receptionist – who was responsible for shipping and customs – you need to stay late tonight because this has got to get out the door, she understood what promises we’d made to our investors. So what the goal was for the quarter, but more importantly she understood what impact that had on stocks she owned in the company and her stock options.

“Why is the objective to grow sales by 20 per cent this year, or why is the objective to increase volunteer hours by 15 per cent? Having a number for the sake of having a number doesn’t do anything, but it’s the why that’s important.”

Jackson chairs the boards of the Waterloo Public Library and Centre in the Square and is president of the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. A graduate of the University of Waterloo, he also sits on the university’s board of governors and works with the Research and Technology Park.

The goal for Tech Capital Partners is to build world-class companies in Waterloo Region and make the region the best place in the world to live for people of all ages, he said.

The region’s technology industry has emerged from the economic downturn better than any other in the country, mostly due to its diversity. Jackson points to companies working in hardware, software, wireless technologies and medical imaging, among others.

In fact, his firm is seeing an increase in entrepreneurship, as people who lost their jobs look to self-employment as an alternative.

“We are seeing lots and lots of opportunities to finance companies. The entrepreneurial bug is out there.”

The Chamber Young Professionals event takes place Jan. 27 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Best Western St. Jacobs Country Inn.

The tanks hold close to 100 different types of fish, from rare species for the serious hobbyist to garden-variety goldfish. There are chubby puffer fish, inch-long neon tetras, red-bellied piranhas and decorative African cichlids in yellow, orange, silvery-green and electric blue.

Along with tropical fish, longtime aquarium aficionado Scheri Graul and her partner Steve Millinger are offering up reptiles such as geckos at their newly opened store, The Fish Bowl, in Elmira’s Birdland Plaza.

Scheri Graul and her partner Steve Millinger opened The Fish Bowl in Elmira’s Birdland Plaza last week. Between the two of them, they have 20 years experience with fish; at one time, they had 10 tanks at home.

“We just love fish, all tropical fish,” Graul said.

They’ve been selling wholesale for about two years, but the plan was always to open their own store. They looked at the Birdland location several times over the past few years, and when it came available, decided to take the plunge.

The store’s focus is creatures rather than supplies, Millinger explained, although they do have a selection of aquariums and food. In addition to fish, they have some reptiles like geckos and turtles and will be bringing in more small pets like gerbils and hamsters. Come summer, they’ll be offering a selection of pond koi, goldfish and pond plants.

Many of the fish in The Fish Bowl are from the cichlid family, which boasts more than 1,000 species. Many of those species are brightly-coloured and easy to care for, making them well-suited to aquariums. Graul’s favourite is the red oscar, a palm-sized cichlid that will eat out of her hand.

“He has a lot of personality for a fish,” she chuckled.

Their priority is to keep their stock affordable for the average person, Millinger said, meaning they don’t sell the really rare, high-end fish. Their prices range from $1 to $50.

The store is also a showroom for what can be done with an aquarium installation. In addition to being pets, tropical fish can also be decorative and therapeutic. The Fish Bowl will do installations for homes, nursery schools, offices, hospitals and nursing homes.

“When we do installations in hospitals and nursing homes, we want bright, colourful fish that are easy to look after,” Millinger explained.

Once their website is up and running, they plan to offer online ordering and live fish delivery right to the doorstep. And for couples who want to move beyond traditional flowers and candles, they do living wedding centrepieces.

Graul and Millinger currently live in Kitchener but opened the store in Elmira because they wanted to cater to Kitchener-Waterloo and the area north of the cities.

“Now that we have the business here, we’ll probably look at moving here shortly,” Millinger said.

The Fish Bowl is located in Birdland Plaza, 120 Oriole Parkway.

When the Waterloo Cattlemen’s Association holds its annual general meeting in Linwood Jan. 20, market volatility will be one of the topics on the agenda. The biggest challenge for cattle feeders in 2009 was the Canadian dollar, which was not only high but unpredictable.

Graham Snyder (right) and his father Robert ship about 500 cattle per year from their Breslau-area farms. The Snyders are hoping for better prospects in 2010, as 2009 proved a challenge just to break even for beef producers.

“With an export market like we have, we’re tied so closely to the United States that when the dollar changes, our market goes up and down automatically,” said Steve Foster, president of the Waterloo Cattlemen’s Association. “When you take it over a six or eight month feeding period … you can lose 15 per cent without the markets ever changing.”

The Canadian dollar rose 15.9 per cent versus the American dollar in 2009. If the loonie would drop, or at least stabilize over the coming months, it would be a boon to producers.

The instability forced Breslau-area beef producer Graham Snyder to change the way he sells his cattle. He and his father move about 500 cattle per year, which they used to sell directly to the Cargill beef plant in Guelph. When selling direct, they had to book their cattle seven to 10 days in advance at a price that was locked in: if the price increased, it wasn’t passed on to the producer. Now they sell their cattle at the stockyards in St. Jacobs to take advantage of any changes in price.

“It’s a quicker reaction at the stockyards as opposed to selling direct,” Snyder said. “The margins that we’re keeping are very slim and we’re struggling to break even on cattle right now.”

The economic downturn has also hurt beef producers, as people tighten their belts and opt for hamburgers over prime rib.

“Prime cuts aren’t selling as well. People aren’t going out to higher-end restaurants and buying the steaks and fillets,” Foster said.

While lower-end cuts like hamburger have picked up in value, it hasn’t been enough to compensate for the losses on choice cuts.

One issue that the Cattlemen’s Association faced in 2009 that will continue into 2010 is the regulations introduced by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency regarding specified risk materials or SRMs.

SRMs – the brain and spinal cord – from cattle more than 30 months old have to be removed and disposed of in a way that ensures no part of them ends up in animal feed. Contaminated feed is believed to be the source of the BSE that was discovered in Canadian cattle in 2003.

Foster acknowledges that the regulations make sense from a food safety perspective, but farmers are paying the cost. The CFIA regulations add $50 to $70 to the cost of slaughtering an animal in Canada. The problem is that the United States doesn’t have the same regulations or costs, putting Canadian producers at a disadvantage.

“The CFIA is trying to hold us to a higher level than the rest of the world, and while doing this they will probably drive us out of business,” Foster said.

The Cattlemen’s Association is asking the government to pick up the tab for the extra costs, to level the playing field.

There are a few positive indicators for 2010. The number of cows in North America has dropped significantly over the past two years, meaning better markets and prices should be on the horizon. However, those higher prices will only offset the pressures of economic malaise.

“If everything was normal in the economy, we’d be in for a banner year in the cattle business,” Foster said. “Right now the way it looks I’d say we’re probably just going to be treading water for another year.”

The Waterloo Cattlemen’s Association annual general meeting will be held Jan. 20 at the Linwood Community Centre. To register, contact Steve Foster at 519-746-0258.

The Shops at Riverworks is set to become the new offices of Quarry Integrated Communications, an advertising and public relations firm currently based in Waterloo.

Quarry Integrated Communications president Ken Whyte is excited by the opportunities provided by the Riverworks building. The company, which currently has offices in Waterloo, will be moving its 90 employees to the site next May.

Quarry is taking over 24,000 square feet of space on the main floor and part of the second, moving 90 employees from their office building at Allen and King Streets in Waterloo.

Riverworks, owned by Mercedes Corp., currently houses 11 retailers, with a number of spaces in the building having been empty for a year or more.

Quarry president Ken Whyte said this week the company was looking for a location downtown, where employees could walk to restaurants or stores on their lunch breaks. He narrowed 13 possible sites down to a final two: Riverworks and the company’s current building. It was Riverworks’ location on the bank of Conestoga River and the historic feel of the reclaimed bricks and wooden beams that won out.

Whyte had been in the Riverworks building before but as a shopper, not a potential tenant. Looking at it through new eyes, he was impressed with the possibilities it offered.

“The moment I walked in that building … it was like ‘wow, this building already has so much great character.’

“It gives you some character to build a culture and environment around,” Whyte said. “I didn’t see any other building that came close to the feel that we want to create.”

It’s not a new concept, Whyte said; there are plenty of other examples of creative firms taking over converted factories, from Toronto’s distillery district to the redevelopment of the Lang Tannery in Kitchener.

“It’s the dream of a lot of creative agencies.”

Jenny Shantz of Mercedes Corp. said there has been a growth in the number of retailers in downtown St. Jacobs over the past 15 years, and leasing the building to Quarry returns some more office space to the core.

“It’s a tiny little town with a lot of retail,” she said. “We see it as a rebalancing of the commercial use in the village.”

Most of the displaced retailers are relocating to other spots in the village. A few retailers will remain on the second floor until Mercedes Corp. can find tenants to convert the rest of the building to office space.

Quarry will move into its new office space May 1. Before that happens, there is some work to be done on the building, including adding more windows overlooking the river and dividing it into offices. The offices will be kept to a minimum, Whyte said, to preserve open space and keep the feel of the 1850s factory the same.

Quarry has had its office in Allen Square since the company was founded 20 years ago, gradually expanding over three floors. Moving to St. Jacobs will allow the company to bring most of its team back on one floor.

“When I announced it, our team was just thrilled to come out and be part of this community,” Whyte said. “There’s so many great benefits to it; everyone’s looking forward to it.”

The hunt proved unsuccessful, so they put into practice the old adage: if you want a thing done well, do it yourself.

Bruce and Marge Weber are making the jump from the farm to a place in Elmira, becoming condo developers in the process. Construction is now underway on Snow Goose Crescent.

“We couldn’t find a place that suited us, so we’re building one,” Bruce said.

They’re hoping there are seven other like-minded people looking for the same thing: workers broke ground last week on the Snow Goose Condos.

The two four-unit buildings are situated on Snow Goose Crescent, overlooking Lions Park. The bungalow-style units are large – 2,000 square feet – each with an attached garage large enough for “two cars and a toy.”

The properties along the south side of Snow Goose were zoned for four-unit buildings, but they’ve gone undeveloped for about seven years.

“The land’s been sitting there all that time,” said Brad Martin, broker of record R.W. Thur.

Martin is selling the condos for the Webers, and said they’re filling a void in the town’s housing market.

“I think it’s a very needed type of residence in Elmira.”

The condos are designed for “active empty-nesters,” people who don’t want to deal with maintenance, who want to downsize while still owning their home. The Webers have seen a number of their contemporaries move to St. Jacobs or Waterloo because they couldn’t find that combination in Elmira.

Each building will have two units on the lower level and two units on the upper level. The only area in common will be the main entrance, which will be equipped with a lift.

They’ve tried to minimize the number of stairs in the building; other than a half-flight of stairs up or down into the unit, the only steps will be a half-flight into the games room in each unit.

There are separate driveways for each garage and the upper units will have a balcony, while the lower units have a small patio outside.

Things like snow removal and grass cutting will be covered by the condo fees, although the Webers aren’t sure what those will be yet.

The Webers aren’t developers; the decision to build condos was a big step from running their business, Pullets Plus. Bruce was enthusiastic; Marge was a bit more hesitant.

“He has the guts to do these things,” Marge said.

“In our business, I was the dreamer and she was the one who brought me back to reality,” Bruce laughed.

But the process has moved more smoothly than they hoped. They planned to start construction next April but everything fell into place and shovels were in the ground last week. The target completion date is next August or September.

And it seems they’re right about the demand. Three of the units were sold before the first sod was turned.

“We want to live there, so we expect others will too,” Bruce said.

For more information, contact Martin at 519-669-2772.