Reel Green™ Vendor Spotlight: Cool Air Rentals

Reel Green™ Vendor, Cool Air Rentals, is the largest independent fleet of portable air conditioning units in Western Canada, focusing on bringing efficient and hassle-free solutions to all customers. Founded back in 1995, Cool Air Rentals provides services for multiple industries, one being the Motion Picture Industry.  

” From the early days of the quickly developing film and TV business, we learned our trade with productions such as The X-Files, The Outer Limits, and Jumanji. We adapted our equipment to meet their demands and prospered as a result. These industry-based challenges required Cool Air to constantly adjust and update our equipment and systems to meet the special demands of all of our different clients.” 

In the interview chair this month, is Kimberlee Alexander, Director of Marketing at Cool Air Rentals. She gives us the inside scoop on how they’re making the world and film industry more sustainable! 

1. What was the intention behind starting Cool-Air Rentals?  

Cool Air began operations in 1995 when John O’Malley purchased the inventory of AR Crowe Rentals from his father-in-law. AR Crowe had been renting equipment to the film industry, but it was rudimentary, outdated, and not user friendly. The industry quickly told John that his gear was “junk” and “you’d better make it easier and more reliable for the industry to use…or we’ll find someone else.” This caught the attention of the new owner and has shaped one of Cool-Air’s core mandates – “Roll in, Plug in, Turn on” – which we’ve taken to Construction, Healthcare, and other industries in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Kelowna so far. 

2. What kind of products / services do you provide? 

We are in the business of regulating temperature and air. Is your lead actor in costume overheating? Has your apartment building HVAC system shutdown due to age or over-capacity? We provide the equipment to solve issues when our customers are dealing with conditions that are too cold, too hot, too humid, too dirty…

30-ton Chiller w/interior fan coil featuring closed-loop system

3. How are you partnering with the BC Film Industry to make sustainability more achievable? 

The Cool-Air team works tirelessly to make sure our solutions are sustainable by carefully selecting the appropriate equipment to provide the most efficient and effective package possible. We consider electrical constraints, volume of stage, number of occupants, etc. – we want the equipment to be right-sized for the issue to limit the dependency on diesel generators.  

4. What are the day-to-day operations within your business / role? What do you enjoy most out of it? 

Since we are a small but mighty company, we all wear a few hats. My key contribution to the organization is to shout our story from the rooftops! I want to educate our clients, empower our team, and inspire our community on what we are accomplishing and how we can carry these efforts forward to all aspects of our lives. I am here to support our group to achieve continued growth and success.  

I truly enjoy the people within our organization, while most days the dogs are the real star attractions! 

Kim; John O’Malley, President; Igor Chyrkov, HVAC Mechanic

5. What is an achievement / green win you’ve or the company has had? 

We custom-build the majority of our gear, which typically starts with equipment that has been deemed obsolete from a traditional accounting standpoint. Within most major rental organizations, the gear has outlived its’ economic life span…but is far from outliving its practical lifespan. We enthusiastically source ‘obsolete’ units to rebuild, repaint, and repurpose thereby turning an expired asset into equipment that will continue on in our inventory for an additional 25 years. Hello, Circular Economy!  

6. Where can people find more information on your company / services? 

All of the traditional sources!  

Facebook/Instagram: @coolairrentals 

Website: www.cool-air.com 

E-mail: info@cool-air.com 

Phone: 604-253-4171 

And we love to chat, so please pop in for coffee if you are in the neighbourhood (and come say hi to the pups too!) 

Our team touring the Burnaby site of Greater Vancouver Food Bank

Cool Air Rentals is our featured guest speaker at the Reel Green Circular Economy Meeting on May 31st at 10:30am. Register here to be a part of the meeting and discuss all things circularity! 

There are over 30 Reel Green™ Vendors that offer a wide range of sustainable services or eco-products to help green our world. Let us know any Reel Green™ Vendors you would like to see in the spotlight next! If you are a Reel Green™ Vendor, and would like to be featured, send us an email at reelgreen@creativebc.com to set up an interview.    

Are you a vendor, but not on the Reel Green™ Vendor List yet? Check out the page linked below to find the vendor application form.     

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