While many cleantech companies encourage environmentally friendly practices in new construction, Halifax-based PowerWHYS is in the early stages of creating a system that recommends energy-efficient products for renovations.
The PowerWHYS system is a tool for contractors and allows them to input the specifics of the job when assessing renovation projects. The system then delivers real-time data about energy billing and recommends energy- and money-saving products for their projects.
PowerWHYS not only saves money for the homeowner, but it also gives contractors more money. Every time the contractors use the products recommended by the PowerWHYS system, they receive a commission.
“A lot of the time, we don’t even pitch it as an environmental thing,” PowerWHYS Co-Founder Megan McCarthy said in an interview. “It’s always about the money, and it’s always about the incentives and how we can help people. … That’s how we’ve been pitching it to the contractors and it’s really spoken to them because they do see a lot of waste. When you own your own company, it’s all about the bottom line.”
McCarthy thought of the idea for PowerWHYS after she spoke to a contractor who mentioned that his clients often asked for sustainable products, but he didn’t know which ones to recommend. She then teamed up with Ty Parent, a media specialist, to create PowerWHYS.
As a passionate environmentalist, McCarthy left her Calgary oil job several years ago and moved to Halifax to complete an environmental science and business degree. She has founded several environmental ventures, including a store that aimed to sell energy-saving products and an application to identify appliance problems.
What she’s learned is that green products will succeed only if there’s an economic benefit for the user.
”Unless there’s money in it for people or some really strong incentive to push them toward saving energy or saving money, it’s sad, but nobody really seems to have time to care, you really need strong incentives to get people to act on anything,” she said.
In regards to PowerWHYS’ finances, McCarthy said that they’ve been bootstrapping for now. They received a Productivity and Innovation grant from Innovacorp, the Nova Scotia innovation agency, to work with students at the Nova Scotia Community College to study the best hardware for PowerWHYS. The company is applying for second-tier funding at NSCC to work with the students again.
McCarthy said that she’s in talks with Innovacorp to apply for its early commercialization fund, as well as the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
PowerWHYS also partnered with a prominent San Francisco building development firm to test its system, and that has gained interest from Silicon Valley venture capitalists.
After tests with the California development firm and several municipalities within Nova Scotia, McCarthy said that the beta product should be out in late December. She assumes that the product will launch to the general public shortly after that.
“Our overall goal is mass adoption of energy efficiency services, practices and products,” McCarthy said. “We really feel like in the end we’re really thinking about all the stakeholders involved, and how to make sure that all of them are getting incentives so that the whole system can work symbiotically together to benefit everyone is really our ultimate goal.”