The Radical Edge Soaks Up The Sun, Inside and Out
By: Matthew Conradi
March 2021
Here in New Brunswick, we’re pretty spoiled in terms of the ease at which we can be in touch with nature. You’d be hard pressed to find yourself in a position where you aren’t but a few minutes away from some sort of an outdoor adventure. Camping, hiking, backpacking, cycling, kayaking, fishing, snowboarding and skiing, just to name a few; most of which can be easily accessed with a quarter tank of gas and some granola bars for the road.
This notion in of itself is enough to make your average marketing coordinator feel a strong desire to STOP blogging, and just disappear into the woods as if they were Bear Grylls… A concept which I’m certain resonates deeply with Mike Davis, President of The Radical Edge. I know this to be true because in the planning of this blog and video interview with Mike, I sent him an email with a proposed schedule, to which he responded: “Can we do the following week? Fantasizing about spontaneously not being here next week. Fingers crossed.”
I just smiled, knowing very well that an impromptu disappearance into the great outdoors was imminent.
Naturally, Mike and everyone at The Radical Edge have a deep appreciation for their outdoor playground, and do everything they can to make environmentally responsible business decisions and mitigate The Radical Edge’s carbon footprint.
“We’ve never sat back and waited for things to happen, for trends to come and then jumped on them.”
As a demonstration of their commitment to driving environmentally sustainable behaviour forward in Fredericton, The Radical Edge invested in a combination of two solar arrays for their storefront located on 129 Westmorland Street in Fredericton, NB.
These systems combined provide The Radical Edge with 11kW of solar energy which actively contributes to both improving their carbon footprint, and reducing their overall energy costs.
The wall-mounted solar array utilizes a custom design built right here in NB to ISO-9001 standards, and has actually been successfully implemented in the past at Hampton High School.
“Their proven ability to deliver on bold new designs, and the fun-loving positive mindset that their entire team shares are what made us choose The Smart Energy Company for our project.”
What truly sets this system apart from anything else in their community however, is it’s secret weapon: clean energy storage.
In addition to the roof and wall-mounted solar panels, The Radical Edge has 17kWh of clean energy storage capacity in the form of a Generac PWRCell lithium-ion system. This offers a host of benefits to The Radical Edge, including: the ability to continue to operate in the event of a power outage, reduce their peak demand costs, and prepare them for future increases in utility provided energy costs.
To date, The Radical Edge has produced over 2000 kWh of clean energy which is being used to power their facility and charge their energy storage system. Once these two objectives are met, any additional energy produced by their solar panels is fed back into the utility grid in exchange for energy credits.
solar production
Shown in the graph above is the solar energy produced by The Radical Edge this year so far.
Yellow represents the energy produced by their solar panels that is being used to power their facility’s energy needs, such as heating and lighting.
Green represents the energy produced by their solar panels that is being used to charge their energy storage system.
Purple represents the extra energy produced by their solar panels that is fed back to the utility grid in exchange for energy credits.
This system has been designed to offset over 100 Tons of CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to 21 Acres of carbon absorbing forest, or offsetting the emissions associated with consuming 228 barrels of crude oil.
The Radical Edge is still very early on in their solar energy journey, and I know everyone here at The Smart Energy Company™ is excited to see the long-term positive impact our technologies will have, both on their energy bill and in promoting environmental stewardship in their community.
