News

Weigh in: share your advice for Planet Traveller here

The project

Planet Traveller will be a 24-room hostel/hotel for young people. Extensive renovations are under way to turn the century-old structure in downtown Toronto into a cutting-edge "green" building by using technology that reduces the usual greenhouse gas emissions by about 80 per cent. Operating costs for energy — laundry, hot water, heating and cooling — are also expected to be about 70 to 80 per cent less compared to a regular hotel.

A key component, about 75 per cent, of that achievable reduction will come from Geothermal technology, to be used for heating and air conditioning. Geothermal essentially uses the ground beneath the building as a heat source. A heat pump does all the work, like a refrigerator in reverse. Other planned "green" technologies include LED lighting, good insulation and ventilation, solar thermal on the roof and a powerpipe (heat exhanger — it captures the heat in hot water as it comes down the shower drains).

The partners: Tom Rand and Anthony Aarts

Tom Rand: Project Manager for Planet Traveller

Tom Rand is a high-tech software entrepreneur and engineer. He is the director of VCi Green Funds, a private venture fund Rand started in 2005, dedicated to providing angel and venture capital to early stage companies developing technologies that reduce energy emissions. One of his first projects is Planet Traveler, Rand's way of becoming engaged in the war against climate change. He describes it as both an investment and a learning experience. As a businessman and an environmentalist, Rand wants to blaze a trail for the greater adoption of Geothermal technology by the public and developers. Rand has put his money where his mouth is, investing in Geothermal through VCi Green Funds. He is also a member of its Board of Directors. Rand says he's driven by a desire to understand the real estate sector by getting his hands dirty and to learn more about how energy use can be reduced in the operation of a building.

Anthony Aarts: General Contractor for Planet Traveller

Anthony Aarts is a Toronto real estate developer, mainly around the Kensington Market area, who is also working on his MBA. Aarts is a 50/50 partner with Tom Rand for the building and renovation, however, Aarts owns 100 per cent of the planned business. Once the project is complete, Aarts will lease the building from a holding company that he shares with Rand and be the one running Planet Traveller as a hostel/hotel. Currently, Aarts deals with the day-to-day problems in construction such as juggling timetables with contractors, on-site supervision and keeping the project on budget.

Investment

The total projected investment is approximately $2.4- to $3-million. So far, the amount invested is $1.5-million and renovations have just begun (the building cost over $1-million). Rand expects his half of the investment to reach $1.5-million.

The additional cost of making the building "green" is only $150,000 to $200,000 — about 10 to 20 per cent of the total budget. The cost of the Geothermal is about $60,000.

The building

The 7,500 sq. ft. building, located on College Street in Toronto, close to Kensington Market, was abandoned 10 years ago. The roof had collapsed and there was extensive fire and water damage throughout, so the first six months was spent cleaning it out. Since this is a retrofit, they are limited in what they can do compared to a new building.

When completed, there will be 24 rooms in total, a large recreation area in the basement and a café, garden and deck on the rooftop. Aarts says that they've replaced the whole rear of the building. The front is a really strong structure that was over-engineered to originally house a printing press. Every floor has 12 foot ceilings giving all the rooms a spacious feel.

The goal is to have the roof on by the end of May so that there is a safe, dry place to work. Aarts says it's difficult to name a long-term date for completion. The project still needs city approval to go ahead with the Geothermal.

Biggest challenge: City approval for the Geothermal holes

Currently, the project is waiting on city approval to dig the 15,300-foot holes needed to install the Geothermal pipes. The biggest problem is that the building takes up the whole footprint of the property so that there's no land to bury the pipes. Rand and Aarts have applied to dig the holes in the city-owned laneway next to the building. Most of the pipes would be angled in and buried under the building. They need to block off the laneway for about two weeks while the holes are dug, the pipes installed, the dirt hauled away and the laneway repaved. Rand says that there is a precedent as natural gas pipes are already buried there. If the city enables the gas companies to provide gas, Rand says, then why not him? He sees himself as his own utility and wants the same right to access the ground beneath the laneway.

As of early May, 2008, approval was still pending. Although some city departments have okayed the plans (15 different departments are looking at them), the city has concerns over the location of the pipes and storm sewers.

Other challenges for Planet Traveller are the day-to-day problems of getting things done on time and on budget, the cost of materials and a tight time frame for booking the drillers to get the Geothermal installed. Parking may be another potential problem. How many travellers booking into a hostel need parking? Or if the building is turned into a boutique hotel for environmentally conscious travellers instead, where do you park their Smart cars?

Alternate plan: Without Geothermal, Rand says the project will lose much of its luster. In terms of heating and cooling, Geothermal would reduce emissions and costs by 80 percent. Other alternatives, such as high efficiency boilers, heat exchangers and best practices only deliver a 15 to 20 per cent reduction. If the city turns him down, Rand will respond with a press conference with some political leaders to challenge Mayor Miller. Rand says that since Toronto claims to be a "green" city, it needs to enable people like he and Aarts to get the job done.

Marketing plan: Aarts believes the "green" technology will both attract and educate young travellers. His plans to fill the building outside of the peak travel season include marketing to school boards. Each floor is the perfect class trip size, able to accommodate 30 students and four chaperones. He's also looking at setting up an ESL school since many foreign students, such as South Americans, have vacation times in January and February. There's also a possibility of having a floor as a boutique hotel for business travellers who are interested in the environmental aspect of the hotel.

Staffing: The hostel/hotel will employ about five or six hospitality workers. No special training is needed. It will be operated like any other hotel.

Revenue: The projected rate of staying at Planet Traveller is $28 a night for a young traveller.

Requested advice from the panel: PR

Rand says that Planet Traveller is a public relations project. He wants to know more about how to engage the city on a pro-active basis, so that he's not just a developer and building owner, but someone who blazes a trail for a greater adoption of Geothermal technology by example. He wants to publicize what he's doing but since he's not taking out ads, he needs help in how to get that message across. Rand says that as a businessman, he needs to communicate better — with the city, the public and developers. He asks for help in how to engage in that process, whom he should approach and the most effective way to do it. His goal is to help others by applying the lessons that he's learned doing Planet Traveller. — as told to Diane Jermyn

Tom Rand - Biography

Tom Rand is the founder of an interactive voice response (IVR) software company, Voice Courier Inc. (VCi). He led its expansion to 100 employees in three countries, with revenue in excess of $12 million US annually. In 2004, he founded Voice Courier Mobile Inc. to move into short message service (SMS) software. The VCi Group of Companies was profitable for each of the 12 years it was under Tom's control. He sold both companies in 2005. Tom holds a BSc in electrical engineering and applied mathematics from the University of Waterloo, an MSc in philosophy of science from the London School of Economics and a MA in philosophy from the University of Toronto, where he is now also pursuing a PhD in philosophy. In 2005 Tom founded VCi Green Funds to provide angel and venture capital to companies developing emission-reduction technologies. He is vice president of environmental science at Canadian Hydrogen Energy Company and sits on the board of Clean Energy Developments Inc., a geo-thermal energy provider.

(Courtesy of The Globe and Mail)