Offering turnkey participation in Canada’s Low Carbon Fuel Programs

Supporting the decarbonization of Canada’s transportation sector through generation, aggregation, and monetization
of low carbon fuel credits

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What We Do

Founded in 2017, BrightSide Solutions helps Canadian businesses and institutions generate revenue from Provincial and Federal Low Carbon Fuel programs. These revenues enable our customers to produce, market, and consume low carbon fuels while reducing carbon emissions from their business activities. The company has offices in Vancouver, British Columbia and Calgary, Alberta, and is expanding its presence to additional locations in Canada.

BrightSide generates, aggregates, and monetizes credits from the following low carbon fuels:

  • LNG and Renewable-LNG
  • CNG and Renewable-CNG
  • Electricity
  • Hydrogen
  • Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel
  • Propane and Renewable Propane

With its recent acquisition by Anew, BrightSide is expanding its scope of products and services to include carbon offsets, renewable natural gas, and other low carbon offerings. We are also extending our reach to enable customer participation in Canada’s Clean Fuel Standard when it begins trading in 2023. We look forward to partnering with you to advance your low carbon fuel initiatives.

What Sets Us Apart

  • Extensive knowledge of and network within Canada’s Low Carbon Fuel programs
  • 25 years of experience in clean energy markets including LNG, CNG, RNG, electricity, hydrogen, methanol, and other low carbon fuels
  • Credit aggregation enables BrightSide to secure pricing that is more advantageous than individual customers could secure on their own
  • Unequalled record of success in British Columbia’s incentive program for capital projects enabling low carbon fuel use

How it Works

Who We Are

Mark Grist

President

Mark is a business development professional with a track record of success in new ventures and energy markets. His experience base spans a variety of industries ranging from LNG and hydrogen to gas processing technologies. Mark has experience developing low carbon fuel market opportunities since 2009 and founded BrightSide in 2017.  He has a track record of success developing customer and strategic partner relationships in North America, Europe and Asia and his corporate development experience includes execution of acquisitions and divestitures.

Over his career Mark has held senior level business development and marketing positions with enterprises such as FortisBC, Methanex and C-I-L and with a series of startups that includes BrightSide Technologies, QuestAir, SunCentral and R-Lux Innovations.

Mark has an MBA from Queen’s University and a B. Comm (Transportation) from UBC.   He and his wife Kari reside in BC where they enjoy biking, hockey and skiing and spending family time with their new grandson Asher.

Andy Brosnan

Chief Operating Officer

Andy Brosnan joined BrightSide Solutions in June 2022 as its Chief Operating Officer.  For the two years preceding this role, Andy served as Element Markets’ (now ‘Anew’) Director and then Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, leading a team responsible for identifying growth opportunities across the renewable natural gas, emissions, carbon, and low carbon fuel markets.   As part of this effort, Andy led M&A and other commercial activity in low carbon fuel compliance markets in the US, Canada, and Europe as well as voluntary initiatives in the utility and maritime sectors.

Prior to joining Element, Andy served twenty years in the U.S. Army as an Infantry and Special Operations officer, Assistant Professor of International Relations at West Point, and Defense and Army Attaché at U.S. Embassies in Africa.

Andy is a graduate of the University of Virginia, and holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.  Andy resides in Vancouver with his wife Jean, their three children, and two dogs.

Sam Wright

RNG Engineer and Compliance Associate

Sam provides engineering and regulatory expertise to BrightSide/Anew customers participating in Low Carbon Fuel (LCF) markets across North America.  Trained in life cycle assessment carbon intensity modeling using GREET, GHGenius, and OpenLCA, Sam works with customers and regulatory agencies to generate project CI scores, establish LCF program fuel codes and pathways, and generate LCF credits using British Columbia’s Transportation Fuels Reporting System (TFRS) and the Federal Credit and Trading System (CFR-CATS).   Prior to joining Anew in 2021, Sam worked in the Canadian oil and gas industry with a focus in sustainable fuel projects. Sam holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta and a M.Eng. specializing in Energy and Environment from the University of Calgary. He is registered as an EIT with APEGA.

Quentin Hicks

Board Member

Quentin Hicks has acted as Chief Financial Officer of Anew, formerly Element Markets, since 2021. Prior to joining Element, Quentin worked at Gulfport Energy Corp., a publicly traded natural gas-focused exploration and production company, as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from August 2019 to May 2021. Prior to Gulfport he worked for Halcón Resources Corporation, where he served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Quentin joined Halcón in August 2012 following the merger of GeoResources with Halcón, where he served as Director of Acquisitions and Financial Planning at GeoResources from 2011 to 2012. From 2004 to 2011, Quentin worked in investment banking with Bear Stearns, Sanders Morris Harris, and most recently Madison Williams, where he was a Director in the energy investment banking practice. Prior to that, he worked as Manager of Financial Reporting for Continental Airlines. Quentin began his career in 1998 as an auditor for Ernst and Young LLP. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Science degree in Accounting. In addition, Quentin holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from Vanderbilt University and also holds a Certified Public Accountant license from the State of Texas.

Eric Townsend

Board Member

Bill Townsend

Board Member

William “Bill” Townsend is Chief Strategy Officer of Anew, the largest climate company in North America resulting from the 2022 combination of durational industry leaders Bluesource and Element Markets.  He co-founded the Bluesource Companies, where he held the role of Chairman and oversaw the company’s rapid growth into an established market-maker, advisor and capital source for North American environmental markets, creating environmental emission reductions from over 20 technologies across 47 states and 5 Canadian provinces. Under his tenure, Bluesource and partners announced the formation of the first US-based carbon fund of $1 billion for investments, exclusively, in climate change reduction projects in North America.  Bill was the co-founder of the Petro Source Companies, a group of companies that gathered, transported, refined and marketed hydrocarbons.  He is former Chairman of the Life@Work Companies, which published faith-based business media and won Folios in editorial development and design.  As Chairman and co-founder of LifeSource, a foundation dedicated to pain management, Bill initiated a 2011 national campaign to stop accidental deaths due to legally-prescribed medications.  Bill is the founder or co-founder of several dozen companies in energy, chemicals, consulting, finance and environment. Through a privately-held investment fund, more than a dozen other start-ups in the not-for and for profit space of faith, culture and character have been launched or nourished. Bill is the past Board Chair of People of the Second Chance, Relevate, Axiom, and K2 the Church Trustees. He and his wife, Andrea, live in the Rockies and are blessed with three children and nine grandchildren.

Contact Us

604.314.1990