Join us at Foresight for a virtual road trip across Canada in our annual series Cleantech Coast to Coast. From the nation’s largest urban centres, to remote pockets of innovation, we’ll celebrate Canada’s inspiring innovators at every stop.
Buckle up, and come along with us as we visit some of the change-makers and cleantech leaders who are deploying amazing climate solutions, and moving the needle toward net zero. Our next stop: Cochrane, Alberta.
On the outskirts of Calgary, Cochrane is a quickly expanding city, attractive to the residents for its quiet, small-town lifestyle, beautiful natural scenery, and strong sense of community. With masses of people looking to call it home, it also makes the perfect base of operations for an innovative, green construction company.
PolarBlock has developed an environmentally-friendly concrete form that can be used in place of traditional building materials. Their unique solution allows them to reduce the amount of other building materials, is water and fire resistant, and highly insulated, resulting in structures that are energy efficient with reduced operational costs.
Executive Director and co-founder, Jennifer Billesberger, says she also sees their technology as a way to address housing security.
“I see PolarBlock as a high performance solution poised to provide a big impact on energy efficient housing. I feel very strongly we all deserve to have high quality housing options, and I see PolarBlock as a way to support affordable housing by decreasing operational costs for under-resourced owners and tenants. Decreasing energy demand in buildings has a significant benefit to our climate, and to our social housing structure.”
Traditionally, materials that are used to create energy efficient buildings come at a premium, but PolarBlock achieves the same result at a fraction of the cost. The ease of its installation also gives developers and builders the added benefit of cutting down on labour costs and time on site.
PolarBlock has already been deployed in high-performance projects in BC and Alberta, and it has been used by their client, Siksika Nation Housing. Their plan is to continue to demonstrate the ease of installation and effectiveness of PolarBlock, and they are getting ready to announce two new products related to high-performance foundations and above-ground walls in the coming months.
PolarBlock is a member of the 2023 Earth Tech Cohort. Earth Tech is a six-month accelerator delivered in partnership between SI Canada and Foresight Canada that supports the commercialization of companies led by committed teams driven by environmental impact. The program supports early-stage companies to validate their solutions and business models, advance their technologies, raise funding, and create meaningful impact.
Ready to accelerate your venture? Apply to Accelerate from Anywhere, or contact us to learn more.
Earth Tech, along with support for Accelerate from Anywhere, is made possible with the generous support of the RBC Foundation, Peter Gilgan Foundation, and Bullfrog Power.
