Tragically Hip front man Gord Downie is doing the Bullfrog; so is celebrity chef Jamie Kennedy. Even the Barenaked Ladies use it on their tours. No, it’s not the latest dance craze or a trendy dish. It’s Bullfrog Power’s eco-conscious way to power homes and businesses.

Launched in December 2005, the Toronto-based start-up is enabling “friendlier” energy use. Bullfrog uses emission-free wind turbines and low-impact water power to feed green energy into the electricity grid. “These are not [the] large hydro dams that you’ve probably seen. These are small run-of-river projects that leave a minimal footprint on the local habitat,” explains Jo Coombe, Bullfrog’s Vice-President of Marketing.

Bullfrog doesn’t actually own the green generators; they purchase energy from various locations across the province, including a wind farm in the Bruce Peninsula and another on Manitoulin Island. According to Coombe, several new turbines are being built right now “as a direct result of the demand we and our clients have created.”

“All of the electricity that we source comes from generators that have received the Eco-Logo certification,” says Coombe. Eco-Logo is Environment Canada’s standard for environmentally friendly products and services.

The brain-child of Tom Heintzman and Greg Kiessling, both of whom bring years of business experience to the operation, Bullfrog aims to achieve a double bottom line: financial and environmental profits.

“They both have green hearts,” explains Coombe enthusiastically. “They wanted to put their business acumen and commitment to the environment together. They wanted to build a green business that would benefit society and help combat climate change.”

The frog becomes a prince

In less than two years Bullfrog power has attracted 4,000 residential users in Ontario. Not bad, considering customers pay 9.1 cents per kilowatt-hour, or approximately one extra dollar per day than conventional hydro consumers.

It is virtually impossible to identify the source of electricity on the grid, and users continue to draw from the grid in the same way they always have. Just like purchasing carbon offsets, bullfrog-powered homes aren’t necessarily using green energy but “they know the amount of electricity they are using is being injected into the grid from these 100 per cent Eco-Logo green sources,” says Coombe. Bullfrog has been so successful in attracting subscribers that in June they launched their services in Alberta.

Businesses are taking notice. Wal-Mart Canada, the largest user of green energy in the country, is using the service to power several Ontario stores and three Alberta locations. Over 20 Royal Bank of Canada branches have switched to Bullfrog power. Cadbury Adam’s 415,000 square foot plant in Hamilton and their Toronto head office have also turned green. And shoppers at many Ivanhoe Cambridge malls, from the Dixie Outlet Mall to Windsor’s Devonshire Mall, can find solace in knowing that the green in their wallets is paying for green energy.

In fact, Bullfrog wants you to know who’s jumping on the eco-friendly train. Their website lists many of their residential and corporate subscribers.

Rockstar appeal

But Bullfrog isn’t just hitting homes and offices; they’ve even hopped on the concert circuit. Barenaked Ladies and the Tragically Hip have used Bullfrog to power several of their concerts in Ontario and Alberta. Typically, consumers’ power use is matched kilowatt-by-kilowatt with green power, but with concerts and events, Bullfrog estimates the usage and injects the projected amount of emission-free energy onto the grid.

In a statement on Bullfrog’s website, Downie says that once he realized he could choose green energy over conventional sources, he was on-board. “That choice opens up a whole new part of the mind – now, when a light bulb in the house is turned on, suddenly it means something. For me, consumer choice is the most powerful method for effecting change in our society. And, as a society, we have had a tendency to never question where our power was coming from,” it reads. “We have an alternative – once I realized that, it only took me about five minutes to exercise that choice.”

The privately held company may not have to wrestle with the challenges faced by many start-ups, such as lack of business expertise, but they faced their own challenges. One of their biggest obstacles was changing the way people perceived their power.

Eco-conscious Power 101

“To a large extent, people hadn’t really thought about what type of electricity they were getting. They hadn’t thought about where it was coming from or how it was getting to their homes. When we came out with a green alternative, one of our biggest challenges was trying to get people to understand what it meant to have an alternative,” says Coombe.

“Typically when you ask people what they think causes air pollution and global warming, they seem to grasp that transportation is part of the problem. But there was still a lot of education that was needed to inform people that electricity generation was also part of the problem.”

Bullfrog, however, had lots of help. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and icons like David Suzuki were becoming if not more vocal, then at least more heard. “Eco-friendly organizations were really instrumental in informing the public about the negative effects of coal and other energy sources. This was really important for us.”

The climate for combating climate change has, apparently, changed. “I think we’ve really struck a chord. Individual citizens want to be able to vote with their wallets. They want to be able to take personal action for their emission footprint,” explains Coombe. “We’ve gone from zero to 4,000 residential customers in less than two years. I think that’s a real testament to Ontarians’ willingness to make a choice for a clean alternative.”

Their somewhat sudden success, however, is one of their biggest challenges. With 25 full-time employees and a handful of freelance and part-time workers, they’re experiencing growing pains. “Like any start-up, we’re trying to grow rapidly. We’ve been fortunate enough to build a strong customer base but that meant we had to scale our operations rapidly,” Coombe pauses. “We’ve done a reasonable job at that.”

But Bullfrog has done an remarkable job at appealing to a broad range of energy consumers; from rockstars to former Ontario Premier Bob Rae, from acclaimed authors Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson to the Steam Whistle Brewery in Toronto.

“We can all do something about climate change and pollution. This isn’t something for somebody else to solve. This is something we can do right now,” says Coombe. And Bullfrog Power is making it easier for consumers to hop on the green train.