A Red Deer-based energy company is poised to be part of Canada’s green economic recovery, says the Business Development Bank of Canada.
The BDC released a study Thursday that finds the majority of Canadian business owners are prioritizing a transition to a greener economy, despite the challenges being presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alberta Welltest Incinerators Ltd., based in Red Deer, with locations in Colorado, North Dakota and Texas, provides incineration technology, dedicated to reducing the environmental impact of oil and gas-related flaring.
The technology replaces open flaring by burning off methane gas with no smoke, odour or visible flame and with 99.9 per cent carbon conversion efficiency.
Rick Henders, Alberta Welltest Incinerators business development manager, said it’s exciting to see more businesses in the country are prioritizing a transition to a greener economy.
“It’s nice that people and companies are catching on to the troubling aspects of (impacts on) the environment. Us being able to help out is a good thing,” said Henders.
Alberta Welltest Incinerators has been around for about 18 years. Henders, who has been with the company since 2007, said he has seen more companies in the oil industry become environmentally conscious over the years.
“The Canadian oil industry had come on board pretty early compared to the rest of the world. Back in 2007, I started going down south to the United States and expanded our business down there,” said Henders.
“It got to the point that in 2019, right before COVID, it was our best year ever. Through the downturn in the oil industry that we saw for the last six years now, our business in particular was excelling.”
The company’s technology is being adopted by oil and gas producers in the U.S. and Canada wanting to manage their environmental impact.
The BDC study, “A transformation in progress: How Canadian entrepreneurs are taking on the environmental challenge,” finds 82 per cent of business owners are taking concrete actions to reduce environmental impact of their activities and a majority have started a transition to a greener economy despite facing obstacles.
The study outlines the challenges entrepreneurs face in adopting green practices and offers a roadmap with strategies and advice for entrepreneurs to overcome those barriers and move the economy towards a green recovery.
Findings also indicate that implementing green practices doesn’t hurt financial performance of small- and medium-sized businesses and can in fact boost profits and speed up economic recovery.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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