Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation. I'm pleased to be here in person, in Ottawa. That way, I avoid any microphone or other technical problems.
Ecosystem is a Quebec company with about 200 people who are passionate about reconfiguring and rebuilding energy ecosystems in buildings. We work across Canada and in the United States, which now accounts for over half our revenues.
I started Ecosystem with a strong belief that everything can be more efficient. Real estate and the construction industry are not efficient, mainly for what we believe to be three reasons.
The first is that everything gets built on a cost-plus basis, so we pay good people to become cost and systems maximizers. In that, there is no incentive for creativity and innovation, and if you combine that with the context of mainly low-cost energy in North America, we get what we have.
We believe that the industry needs fewer prescriptive measures and more results-based measures.
We recommend focusing on the “how” and not the “what” to make sure that there is clear accountability in the bidding process, the procurement process and the contracting process, and aligned financial interest. We're only going to get what we want if our partners in the equation get rewarded for it.
I like to give NASA as an example. NASA moved their procurement and contracting process to an outcome-based one 20 years ago, and they've achieved a great cost reduction with that initiative, mainly because they reconnected people with results. Their partners' engineers are now working with a purpose and they are motivated to reach greater goals.
A lot of emphasis is put on technology. It's important, of course, and technology like the one Mr. Wright discussed earlier is certainly needed. However, it's important to know that, in Europe, with the same building technologies, 50% less energy is used in the built environment than in Canada.
Amory Lovins, in the United States, has said for dozens of years that consideration should be given to paying professionals based on the money they're able to save, not the money they spend. That means rethinking our purchasing methods and the alignment of financial interests in everything we do. That's clearly true in the construction and real estate sectors, but also in everything we do. Interests must be better aligned with the desired outcome.
If there's one area of technology in which Canada should be a leader, it's heat pumps. We live in a climate and environment in which electricity is affordable and clean. I read in your report that most of the energy we consume is used for heating. Heat pumps are therefore the best technology for the future.