This green ammonia production system will change our world

Transcript

Full transcript page · Interactive episode

============================================================
TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
============================================================

[00:00] SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Candice Podcast.
[00:07] SPEAKER_02: Ian, welcome to Candice Podcast.
[00:09] SPEAKER_02: Great to meet you.
[00:11] SPEAKER_02: I've been looking forward to it.
[00:13] SPEAKER_02: I've done a little bit of research on you.
[00:16] SPEAKER_02: And a few positives.
[00:17] SPEAKER_02: It's a very interesting company.
[00:21] SPEAKER_02: But, you know, we're here to talk about your entrepreneurial journey.
[00:24] SPEAKER_02: So, you know, tell us a little bit more about your journey today.
[00:29] SPEAKER_02: You know, why you became an entrepreneur.
[00:33] SPEAKER_02: You know, what where you are today.
[00:37] SPEAKER_02: You know, you can do a little, a little bit positive kind of descriptive.
[00:41] SPEAKER_02: That's fine.
[00:43] SPEAKER_02: Then we'll kind of give us a quick sort of three to five minutes on that side of things.
[00:47] SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah. Well, first of all, thank you for inviting me to participate.
[00:51] SPEAKER_00: It's a, it's a real pleasure.
[00:53] SPEAKER_00: A pleasure to be here. A pleasure to, you know, talk to a Canadian audience and really focus on.
[00:58] SPEAKER_00: On how proud I am to be a Canadian and doing the kind of work that we have been doing and are doing now is.
[01:07] SPEAKER_00: It's a very Canadian centric story.
[01:10] SPEAKER_00: So I'm really happy to, to, to be here for that.
[01:14] SPEAKER_00: But historically, I think I've only ever known what it is to be an entrepreneur.
[01:21] SPEAKER_00: Both my parents, very entrepreneurial architects and.
[01:26] SPEAKER_00: And very much involved in the arts and Toronto growing up.
[01:31] SPEAKER_00: So I never really saw anything other than kind of an entrepreneurial approach to life.
[01:37] SPEAKER_00: And that was that.
[01:39] SPEAKER_00: And not to fault anyone who is working nine to five.
[01:43] SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean, it's the core and basis of our of our work forces.
[01:48] SPEAKER_00: Obviously in so many places.
[01:50] SPEAKER_00: But also to have the experience that that you could always look for for a different opportunity.
[01:59] SPEAKER_00: The inspired by different things be drawn in many different directions.
[02:03] SPEAKER_00: It's a bit of a blessing and a curse as you know.
[02:07] SPEAKER_00: So, so this is always always been the kind of the foundation of of how I grew up.
[02:14] SPEAKER_00: I became very interested in photography at a young age.
[02:18] SPEAKER_00: I had the incredible opportunity to be one of.
[02:23] SPEAKER_00: Ansel Adams assistance when I was 17 years old.
[02:26] SPEAKER_00: Wow.
[02:27] SPEAKER_00: Working in Yosemite and in Carmel.
[02:31] SPEAKER_00: So at the very beginning of my life, having exposure and experience with somebody at the end of their life, who of course.
[02:38] SPEAKER_00: Had had such an incredible.
[02:41] SPEAKER_00: Gosh, behind me, but it's all the cars.
[02:45] SPEAKER_00: I'm wondering if there's an Adams printer.
[02:49] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and if I turned off my green screen, you'd see a bunch of Adam's stuff.
[02:55] SPEAKER_00: But that did two things for me.
[02:57] SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, it made me realize that you can have a lifetime of creativity and.
[03:02] SPEAKER_00: And that that's an option, but also his huge focus on the environment, of course.
[03:08] SPEAKER_00: And and preserving this fragile earth that we all take for granted.
[03:14] SPEAKER_00: Was a big sort of a foundational part of certainly my character.
[03:19] SPEAKER_00: And that it that different stages of my life informed my informed my journey.
[03:26] SPEAKER_02: And whereas I don't want to this be to be a sponsored podcast.
[03:30] SPEAKER_02: I mean, a lot of people don't know what fuel positive is up to on an innovation level.
[03:36] SPEAKER_02: And I think, you know, based on today's climate, where we're at with climate change, with supply chain, with Ukraine and.
[03:46] SPEAKER_02: And you know, shortage of fertilizer and all kinds of things like that.
[03:52] SPEAKER_02: Maybe you can just explain a little bit about the innovation that fuel positive is sort of deep into basically.
[04:02] SPEAKER_00: So I so two things. I mean, fuel positive is a is a company that focuses on the decentralization of production of key product.
[04:17] SPEAKER_00: So our first offering is is green ammonia.
[04:22] SPEAKER_00: So green ammonia is our ammonia rather is a resource, a commodity that's been around for over a century.
[04:30] SPEAKER_00: It's used heavily in agriculture, of course, as a fertilizer.
[04:34] SPEAKER_00: And it's produced in one of the most carbon intense processes around the world.
[04:38] SPEAKER_00: So it's a huge polluter, but it's also an essential element in in feeding people around the world.
[04:45] SPEAKER_00: So farmers use various types of ammonia nitrogen fertilizers, of course, to grow crops.
[04:52] SPEAKER_00: And the way it's done today is that you'll have a plant in Russia or Ukraine or, you know, the southern United States producing ammonia.
[05:03] SPEAKER_00: In this highly carbon intense process, reliant on fossil fuels, and then transporting it all over the world.
[05:10] SPEAKER_00: Right. So by the time it gets to the farmer, by the time it gets to the farm, it's traveled typically, you know, thousands and thousands of kilometers.
[05:18] SPEAKER_00: It's accumulated tons and tons of carbon to get from production to to end use.
[05:26] SPEAKER_00: And it's gone up in price in a, you know, by or, you know, orders of magnitude in the process.
[05:33] SPEAKER_00: So we were about 18 months ago, we're introduced to a scientific group at Ontario Technology University just outside of Toronto, who developed a modular and scalable green ammonia.
[05:48] Speaker UNKNOWN: And it's a very, very, very advanced technology where basically you take sustainable electricity.
[05:52] SPEAKER_00: So winter, hydro or solar electricity, carbon free electricity.
[05:58] SPEAKER_00: And you produce green ammonia through a, through a hydrogen and nitrogen process.
[06:05] SPEAKER_00: And what we discovered was that this was such an efficient way of producing ammonia that we could then build systems that a farmer could have on their farm.
[06:17] SPEAKER_00: Right. So we could take away the entire supply chain, the uncertainty of supply, the crazy cost increases.
[06:28] SPEAKER_00: The price of ammonia and Manitoba just over the last years gone from $600.
[06:33] SPEAKER_00: Last quote was $2,500 per tonne.
[06:38] SPEAKER_00: And fertilizers are the number one input on any farm.
[06:42] SPEAKER_00: So the cost, so farmers are facing bankruptcy or the option of not fertilizing or fertilizing much less, reducing yield, reducing income.
[06:53] SPEAKER_00: And it's just a, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a problem.
[06:56] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[06:56] SPEAKER_00: It's like a domino effect for them.
[06:58] SPEAKER_00: So we were saying, wait a second, we can fix this problem.
[07:03] SPEAKER_00: We can create a system that can be installed on farm, produce and store and hydro some ammonia for the farmer.
[07:12] SPEAKER_00: They can then, they have certainty then over price and supply.
[07:17] SPEAKER_00: And then they can use it responsibly on the farm, which they've been doing in many, in some cases for decades, and have that certainty.
[07:26] SPEAKER_00: The other thing that it does is, and it's little known fact that, that, and hydro some ammonia can also be used as a fossil fuel replacement.
[07:36] SPEAKER_00: So the same farmer who, their two biggest inputs are fertilizer and fuel can produce all of their own fertilizer and fuel on farm.
[07:46] SPEAKER_00: They can power their tractors.
[07:47] SPEAKER_00: They can use their grain dryers.
[07:50] SPEAKER_00: They can fertilize their fields.
[07:52] SPEAKER_00: And if they have their own solar array or wind on their farm generation, they can be completely off grid and, and be independent.
[08:00] SPEAKER_00: So you can imagine, I mean, coming out of supply team nightmares from COVID and, and the horrible situation in Ukraine today.
[08:09] SPEAKER_00: We're just seeing how vulnerable these antiquated distribution systems are, and way of doing business is.
[08:18] SPEAKER_00: So as I said, this is our first offering, but we're all about decentralization.
[08:23] SPEAKER_00: We think the same can happen in, in many aspects of transportation and, and refrigeration is another huge opportunity here as well.
[08:33] SPEAKER_00: Anyhow, so yeah, that's the, in a nutshell.
[08:35] SPEAKER_02: Very interesting. Let's move back to you again. But that was really, I was getting cool stuff. I just think it's really, really interesting.
[08:43] SPEAKER_02: So let's just sort of throw something this, you know, what have you found is the best thing about being an entrepreneur.
[08:54] SPEAKER_02: You know, we were talking about nothing wrong with a 95 and there is nothing wrong.
[08:59] SPEAKER_02: Well, in fact, there's a lot of good, good things about it. For you, you know, you've been an entrepreneur for a long time.
[09:09] SPEAKER_02: You know, what, what makes you kind of hanging and, you know, have those high lows, risk days, success days, whatever.
[09:20] SPEAKER_00: For me, the biggest thing is, is the people that I've been exposed to over the years and learning, learning ultimately who I can work with, who I can't work with.
[09:33] SPEAKER_00: What sort of building really, really good teams has been, has been, I think part of the, the most rewarding part of it, but also I think one of the most challenging part of it as well is, is learning how to,
[09:48] SPEAKER_00: you know, really trust your instinct, trust your gut when it comes down to, to, to choosing the people that, that you believe will make a good team.
[10:00] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, as a, as a leader of a team, for me, it's all about, it's all about the chemistry of that group of people and ensuring that you've got, you've got people who have the same values, who believe in the mission, which, whatever it is that you're trying to achieve.
[10:18] SPEAKER_00: That they really believe, believe in what you're doing and believe in each other, communicate effectively and, and with that, you know, the, you can really achieve anything.
[10:34] SPEAKER_00: And as an entrepreneur, my, my worst experiences have been when I haven't trusted that or I've, I've, I've, you know, been drawn in by narcissists or I've been, you know, that certain types of people, you know, come across as being, you know, really intriguing and supportive, but when you start to work with them intensely and intimately, you realize that, you know, they're, they're, it's all about them.
[11:04] SPEAKER_00: So, learning to control ego has been a big learning over the years and, and now I'm all about, you know, building consensus, you know, having a very horizontal structure in our organization.
[11:21] SPEAKER_00: You know, I realize this, you know, in this, in fuel positive, I'm the chief executive. So in a sense, the, you know, the buck stops with me, but it also stops where a public company. So with our board of directors.
[11:35] SPEAKER_00: But I don't, I don't try to operate the company with, with any, any sense of hierarchy. There's, you know, it's a cliche, but there's no stupid question.
[11:43] SPEAKER_00: You know, that sort of thing and really, you know, really rewarding people as well, I think, being a very generous leader, I think, is also incredibly important.
[11:55] SPEAKER_02: Let's move on to, for me, what, what, what's the key piece of entrepreneurship, you know, in terms of mentors, basically, and I would like to talk about the minimum, you know, my father, you know, 50% 50% planning, 50% hard work.
[12:14] SPEAKER_02: 50% lock, 150% effort. That was, it's not a formula. It's not a mad formula, you know, you know, you know, we all have those things, whether it be a parent or some of you met along the way, the, the, the, that we carry around in our, you know, in our back pocket.
[12:36] SPEAKER_02: And, you know, you pull out every some of them, you kind of talked a little bit about that. But, you know, in terms of mentorship, what, what's, what do you feel is a piece of advice that you've been given that, that resonates today, even?
[12:53] SPEAKER_00: Well, I, my, my parents have had a huge influence on me. My father, particularly, was, he was an incredible listener. And I often, when I get into situations where I'm confused or frustrated or don't know which way to turn, I realize that the thing I shut down the first is my ability to listen.
[13:16] SPEAKER_00: So typically in those scenarios now, I'll, I'll pause, I'll ask questions. I'll seek guidance, you know, I don't have to have all the answers. And, and knowing that is, is actually incredibly liberating. It takes a lot of pressure off.
[13:32] SPEAKER_00: And, and, and then you share great ideas and you hear people and, and yeah, so definitely invoking that quality in my own, my own dad was, you know, is, is important. He's been gone for, I guess, 11, 12 years now.
[13:49] SPEAKER_00: And he's still incredibly present, right? And that, that influences is, is very strong in me.
[13:57] SPEAKER_02: You know, a little bit on that, you know, if you can go back 20 years, 25 years, you know, well, what wouldn't you have done?
[14:10] SPEAKER_02: If, you know, in terms of if you look at that 20-odd years, what did you do that was really stupid that you can pass on to people? Don't go there, kind of thing.
[14:21] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and this was a hard learning, but, but don't work with narcissists. I mean, it sounds again, it sounds like an absolute, a bit of a cliche today. And, and, you know, we've seen just the most incredible awareness around narcissism in our society over the last five years, but 20 years ago, you didn't really know what it, it wasn't a descriptive, descriptive word.
[14:48] SPEAKER_00: But the worst times I've had in business is when I've been, been in relationships, business relationships with narcissistic personality. And there, as I said earlier, they're really seductive, but they, oh, they only care about themselves. And, and you can't, from my perspective, at least you can't build a healthy successful business around narcissistic personalities.
[15:15] SPEAKER_00: And that's not to say that there aren't any businesses that are phenomenally successful led by narcissists, but, you know, the same ones where you get the horror stories of working with those people.
[15:24] SPEAKER_00: So, and it's not all about money. It's not about that. It's about, it's about good healthy relationships. And then the other thing is to, you know, treat people fairly is, is critical. I've always tried to do that. It's not a problem, but, again, when you, when you have people who are, you know,
[15:44] SPEAKER_00: driven by greed or, or by fame or those types of, you know, very shallow, pursuits, soul pursuits. I'm not saying that you can't have things in a, in a good balance.
[15:59] SPEAKER_00: But if, if anything, like that is, is sort of driving the bus, then, and then I find that things become, can become very dysfunctional very quickly. So, I've learned through that, and I've gone through a number of, of, of scenarios, I've been in businesses that have been acquired by much larger companies, complete dysfunction in terms of how to acquire.
[16:23] SPEAKER_00: So, as we, I mean, we've done our, our first major acquisition a year ago was the technology related to this green ammonia.
[16:32] SPEAKER_00: Incredibly easy negotiation with the inventors.
[16:36] SPEAKER_00: We were able to strike an incredibly fair deal with them, again, very generous, but realistic in the context.
[16:47] SPEAKER_00: So, again, learning to, you know, learning to treat people fairly has, you know, that's been, it's been a struggle. And, and I think I finally, you know, after 30 years of doing it, I finally figured that one out.
[17:01] SPEAKER_02: But I've had to big one word to describe Ian Clifford.
[17:06] SPEAKER_01: What would it be? Why?
[17:10] SPEAKER_00: I want to say, probably, at this point in my life, I think, fair. I think that I'm, I, I try to be really balanced in terms of how I look at situations, how I work with people.
[17:34] SPEAKER_00: In terms of fairness, I take people at their word and at their value, I give people the chance to, you know, to succeed.
[17:46] SPEAKER_00: But I'm not, that doesn't mean I'm easy. But I'm fair. So if if you are, who you say you are, which comes down to honesty, I'm, again, I've got my own goal.
[18:01] SPEAKER_00: I love working with people in that context
[18:05] SPEAKER_00: and without level of trust and transparency.
[18:09] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, a fun one.
[18:10] SPEAKER_02: You were mourning or a night person?
[18:13] SPEAKER_00: I think I'm a mourning person.
[18:15] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's about 30% of the laundry.
[18:18] SPEAKER_00: Really, that's interesting.
[18:20] SPEAKER_00: It's funny, it's funny.
[18:21] SPEAKER_00: It's just a very, you know,
[18:22] SPEAKER_00: yeah, amazing how many people say mourning.
[18:25] SPEAKER_00: But I've got a lot of, I mean,
[18:27] SPEAKER_00: interesting a lot of my decision points,
[18:30] SPEAKER_00: they have very often it around two in the morning.
[18:34] SPEAKER_00: I'll wake up and have this moment of clarity,
[18:37] SPEAKER_00: write it down, thankfully,
[18:39] SPEAKER_00: I forgot in the morning, but
[18:41] SPEAKER_00: and most of it's not garbage.
[18:42] SPEAKER_02: I never, I never stop thinking when I'm on this Sunday.
[18:45] SPEAKER_02: All right.
[18:46] SPEAKER_02: So you just can't do it.
[18:47] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but, you know,
[18:52] SPEAKER_01: what books are you reading?
[18:54] SPEAKER_01: I let my students out a little bit.
[18:57] SPEAKER_01: You don't have to be reading it.
[18:58] SPEAKER_01: What books have you read
[19:02] SPEAKER_02: that have, that you would say,
[19:05] SPEAKER_02: if you haven't read it, you must, okay?
[19:09] SPEAKER_00: Well, it's an interesting,
[19:11] SPEAKER_00: it goes back because I used to read an awful lot
[19:14] SPEAKER_00: when I was younger and
[19:18] SPEAKER_00: interestingly, I really focused on novelists.
[19:21] SPEAKER_00: So I read a lot of,
[19:23] SPEAKER_00: I let it read a lot of Margaret Atwood,
[19:24] SPEAKER_00: a lot of Marge Pierci.
[19:26] SPEAKER_00: I was really fascinated in the,
[19:29] SPEAKER_00: the sort of the female voice
[19:31] SPEAKER_00: and understanding society
[19:34] SPEAKER_00: through those incredibly profound filters.
[19:38] SPEAKER_00: And I think that it's really important
[19:41] SPEAKER_00: to go back to that.
[19:42] SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think Margaret Atwood is an absolute vital.
[19:48] SPEAKER_02: She's also in that shot, yeah.
[19:52] SPEAKER_00: hilarious.
[19:53] SPEAKER_00: So there you go.
[19:54] SPEAKER_00: So obviously she was being channeled
[19:57] SPEAKER_00: through the photograph.
[19:58] SPEAKER_00: But so, yeah, so I mean,
[20:00] SPEAKER_00: Canadian authors over the years,
[20:03] SPEAKER_00: Michael O'Donter and others,
[20:04] SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've always had a real interest
[20:06] SPEAKER_00: in Canadian literature.
[20:07] SPEAKER_00: I just find the way it's written feels very accessible,
[20:11] SPEAKER_00: if you will.
[20:13] SPEAKER_00: So I highly, highly recommend,
[20:16] SPEAKER_00: I'm doing less book reading now, sadly.
[20:19] SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've moved over to, you know,
[20:22] SPEAKER_00: more kind of podcast type information,
[20:26] SPEAKER_00: absorption, if you will,
[20:28] SPEAKER_00: as opposed to sitting down with a good book.
[20:32] SPEAKER_00: But we're taking some a bit of time off this summer.
[20:35] SPEAKER_00: So I'm really looking forward to actually cracking open
[20:39] SPEAKER_00: a book for a change.
[20:41] SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you love Canada,
[20:44] SPEAKER_01: you grew up in Toronto, you know,
[20:49] SPEAKER_01: and you, you've really, I guess, always had
[20:53] SPEAKER_02: an international focus at the same time
[20:57] SPEAKER_02: with your company.
[20:59] SPEAKER_02: You know, what's so good about it?
[21:03] SPEAKER_02: Why, why didn't you, you know,
[21:06] SPEAKER_02: sorely on down, I mean, you have an Austin,
[21:08] SPEAKER_02: you know, which is the great city, you know,
[21:12] SPEAKER_02: you have an Austin sort of office there.
[21:15] SPEAKER_02: Why would you, what would you stay rooted here?
[21:20] SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
[21:21] SPEAKER_00: I mean, Austin, we did,
[21:23] SPEAKER_00: we did live there for a few years
[21:25] SPEAKER_00: between 2016 and 2019.
[21:29] SPEAKER_00: So, and then,
[21:31] SPEAKER_00: I was kind of a funny story, we drove down
[21:35] SPEAKER_00: in summer of 2016 and of course, cross the border
[21:38] SPEAKER_00: and it was all Hillary posters
[21:40] SPEAKER_00: until we started getting farther south.
[21:42] SPEAKER_00: And there was our host days and we were like,
[21:44] SPEAKER_00: what is going on here?
[21:45] SPEAKER_00: No one's going to vote for this guy.
[21:47] SPEAKER_00: So anyhow, so we arrived in Austin, you know,
[21:51] SPEAKER_00: and lived through the election there
[21:53] SPEAKER_00: and just the whole reshaping of the United States.
[22:00] SPEAKER_00: And you asked the question,
[22:02] SPEAKER_00: so, you know, we were there for those several years
[22:05] SPEAKER_00: of sort of incomprehensible change.
[22:10] SPEAKER_00: And you know, this sort of goes back
[22:12] SPEAKER_00: to my point around narcissism.
[22:14] SPEAKER_00: It was like suddenly narcissism was just the way to be.
[22:18] SPEAKER_00: And it was so instilled throughout American society
[22:24] SPEAKER_00: and I mean, globally of course as well.
[22:27] SPEAKER_00: But I realized that I don't have this voice,
[22:31] SPEAKER_00: like this is not the way I think of the world.
[22:34] SPEAKER_00: And when I think of Canada,
[22:36] SPEAKER_00: I don't think of that even though it's everywhere
[22:40] SPEAKER_00: but I think of Canadians and just the way our society functions
[22:45] SPEAKER_00: and so on, it's so differently
[22:46] SPEAKER_00: than what I had experienced living in the States.
[22:49] SPEAKER_00: So I really missed it.
[22:51] SPEAKER_00: Part of it was, and it was just getting crazier and crazier.
[22:54] SPEAKER_00: I mean, in Texas, I mean, they were passing open carry
[22:58] SPEAKER_00: laws for guns and you know, the downtown Austin was fine,
[23:02] SPEAKER_00: but every kilometer you went from downtown
[23:05] SPEAKER_00: it just got, you know, weirder and weirder.
[23:09] SPEAKER_00: So I mean, from a societal perspective,
[23:12] SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think Canada's, you know, we've got our problems
[23:16] SPEAKER_00: obviously, but I think we've also got one
[23:18] SPEAKER_00: of the greatest countries in the world.
[23:20] SPEAKER_00: And I don't say that lightly.
[23:22] SPEAKER_02: I still hear a few, quite a few decades.
[23:25] SPEAKER_02: I'm having traveled all over the world.
[23:26] SPEAKER_02: You can hear as you can hear about anything.
[23:28] SPEAKER_00: No, I know.
[23:29] SPEAKER_00: And not into my parents, they came in the 50s
[23:31] SPEAKER_00: and from Europe and from England and from Sweden.
[23:35] SPEAKER_00: So I had a very, as a child, it was experienced Europe a lot
[23:40] SPEAKER_00: and as a young adult, as a photographer,
[23:42] SPEAKER_00: I traveled all over the world.
[23:44] SPEAKER_00: So I gained a lot of perspective.
[23:46] SPEAKER_00: And this is, you know, I desperately want my own kids
[23:50] SPEAKER_00: to just travel.
[23:52] SPEAKER_00: And of course, like over the last couple of years
[23:54] SPEAKER_00: with COVID, it's been so depressing.
[23:55] SPEAKER_00: Because I think, you know, when I was 18,
[23:59] SPEAKER_00: you know, I would do anything to be anywhere.
[24:01] SPEAKER_00: And, and, and, you know, my son who's 19
[24:05] SPEAKER_00: has like sort of, has been trapped for the last couple
[24:08] SPEAKER_00: of years and it's just been painful just as we watch.
[24:11] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, but if you imagine being, you know, 18
[24:15] SPEAKER_00: in a pandemic, it's just horrible.
[24:18] SPEAKER_00: So, so Canada, again, I mean, how we handled the pandemic,
[24:23] SPEAKER_00: you know, how we try to take care of each other, you know,
[24:28] SPEAKER_00: with all the missteps.
[24:30] SPEAKER_00: But I think there's a genuine,
[24:33] SPEAKER_00: there's a genuine humanity in Canada, which makes us,
[24:36] SPEAKER_02: makes us just, you know, what are you
[24:39] SPEAKER_02: most excited about in your business?
[24:42] SPEAKER_02: And in sort of the emerging business of the future
[24:49] SPEAKER_02: that maybe crosses over into other areas.
[24:53] SPEAKER_00: You know, the environment is central to everything.
[24:56] SPEAKER_00: Like it's, there isn't a business now
[24:59] SPEAKER_00: that doesn't have some sort of social responsibility.
[25:03] SPEAKER_00: And I mean, a lot of it is lip service, I get it,
[25:05] SPEAKER_00: but we've never been in this place before
[25:08] SPEAKER_00: where there is such a profound focus on,
[25:11] SPEAKER_00: on, on saving the planet.
[25:14] SPEAKER_00: And it's, and, and people now realize that that's what we're doing.
[25:18] SPEAKER_00: We don't have a choice.
[25:20] SPEAKER_00: So, so the neat thing about being in our space
[25:25] SPEAKER_00: where we're empowering, you know, people directly.
[25:30] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, farmers who will receive our systems
[25:32] SPEAKER_00: will be direct recipients.
[25:34] SPEAKER_00: So it's not like a trickle down process, you know,
[25:38] SPEAKER_00: through the supply chain.
[25:39] SPEAKER_00: It's like, no, we are putting a system on your farm.
[25:41] SPEAKER_00: We're changing, hopefully changing your life for the better.
[25:44] SPEAKER_00: And, and, and having a huge positive environmental impact
[25:49] SPEAKER_00: at the same time.
[25:50] SPEAKER_00: So, and we're looking for like-minded companies to work with
[25:56] SPEAKER_00: in everything that we do.
[25:58] SPEAKER_00: So we've, you know, sort of coined, not coined,
[26:02] SPEAKER_00: but we've, we've, we've utilized the expression cradle to cradle
[26:06] SPEAKER_00: in terms of how we approach our business.
[26:09] SPEAKER_00: So we know we're not perfect.
[26:10] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we still get, you know, we get components from Europe
[26:13] SPEAKER_00: and, and, and other places in the world.
[26:16] SPEAKER_00: But our intention is to source everything locally,
[26:20] SPEAKER_00: work locally, and try to build this company
[26:24] SPEAKER_00: as a very much as a Canadian company.
[26:27] SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, we will export our technology around the world,
[26:30] SPEAKER_00: but initially we're focused very much on,
[26:32] SPEAKER_00: on solving Canadian problems to start with.
[26:35] Speaker UNKNOWN: But, but it-
[26:36] SPEAKER_02: What you talk about, Canada is not good,
[26:38] SPEAKER_02: not bad pilot.
[26:40] SPEAKER_02: You know, you're rather large agrarian economy.
[26:43] SPEAKER_02: Incredible.
[26:44] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and no, incredible.
[26:46] SPEAKER_00: And a lot of progressive farmers,
[26:48] SPEAKER_00: tons of progressive farmers and,
[26:50] SPEAKER_00: and also a great energy mix.
[26:52] SPEAKER_00: So we're launching our initial systems in Manitoba,
[26:54] SPEAKER_00: which is an entirely green grid,
[26:57] SPEAKER_00: low, low cost electricity.
[26:58] SPEAKER_00: It's perfect.
[26:59] SPEAKER_00: So it's a perfect place to demonstrate the viability
[27:02] SPEAKER_00: of what we're doing.
[27:03] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but it's Canada.
[27:04] SPEAKER_00: And, and again, we're getting inquiries from all over the world
[27:08] SPEAKER_00: for what we're, what we're proposing because everyone realizes,
[27:12] SPEAKER_00: the way we, the centralized models don't work anymore.
[27:16] SPEAKER_00: It's the, we've got to decentralize these,
[27:17] SPEAKER_00: these vital aspects of our economies and societies.
[27:23] SPEAKER_00: And looking at our time,
[27:25] SPEAKER_02: the thing we're done.
[27:28] SPEAKER_02: But, you know, it's an interesting discussion.
[27:31] SPEAKER_02: How can people get a hold of you?
[27:32] SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, we have lots of listeners and viewers
[27:35] SPEAKER_02: and some of them, you know, maybe really interested.
[27:40] SPEAKER_02: You know, farmers, I'm sure, you know,
[27:43] SPEAKER_02: the original entrepreneurs, I, I, I call them.
[27:47] SPEAKER_02: But, you know, how can people get a hold of you?
[27:51] SPEAKER_00: Easiest way is just through email.
[27:54] SPEAKER_00: So it's Ian at fuelpositive.com,
[27:58] SPEAKER_00: or through our website, which is fuelpositive.com.
[28:02] SPEAKER_00: And tons of very interesting information there.
[28:06] SPEAKER_00: It's a, it's a very active website.
[28:09] SPEAKER_00: Like, it's, it's sort of a portal into the company, if you will.
[28:13] SPEAKER_00: And, and yeah, I absolutely invite people to visit us there.
[28:18] SPEAKER_00: And, and reach out.
[28:19] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[28:19] SPEAKER_00: I mean, we do, we respond to everything inbound inquiry.
[28:22] SPEAKER_00: So we're very serious about that.
[28:25] SPEAKER_00: Thank you for coming on, Canada's podcast.
[28:27] SPEAKER_00: Great meeting.
[28:28] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, pleasure.
[28:28] SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.