Homes and buildings emit 18% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, with 2/3rds of home energy use going to heating and cooling. Electrifying homes has taken off as home owners make the connection between climate change and their rising energy bills, and as governments incentivize home retrofits to meet their emissions targets.
In our first episode of The Climate Cycle, we sit down with Paul Sehr, co-founder of Jouleia, to dive into the world of home energy retrofits and how we can retrofit the 10 million homes needed for net-zero in Canada. We talk about Jouleia’s unique, systems thinking approach, why heat pumps are such a powerful tool for climate action, and how they’re helping make healthier, lower-carbon homes more accessible to Canadians.
Paul shares how he got into the climate space while modernizing his own home, lessons he’s drawing on from his time leading technology at FinanceIt, and his thoughts on breaking down barriers to home energy upgrades.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
About Paul
Paul is a serial entrepreneur, having previously co-founded & run technology at FinanceIt, which was acquired and is now Canada's largest home improvement lender. He has a technical background, with extensive executive experience in the fintech & home improvement sectors.
About Jouleia
Jouleia is modernizing homes for the electric age. Over 11 million Canadian homes require energy retrofits. Jouleia is simplifying the retrofit process with a suite of free resources and their Home Expert Service, which handles the complicated research and planning process while connecting homeowners with contractors and financing options.
In our conversation, we cover:
[1:26] - How Paul got hooked while modernizing his own home
[5:02] - The problem Jouleia is solving
[9:24] - Putting together the founding team
[11:13] - Building science and their systems thinking approach
[15:20] - Heat pump performance in cold temperatures
[17:33] - How we can accelerate retrofits for 10M buildings
[23:45] - Affordability in making these upgrades
[27:23] - How upgrading your home can avoid 35 flights worth of CO2
[28:32] - Lessons he’s applying from FinanceIt
[31:06] - Initial traction with customers
[33:15] - Finding product market fit
[36:15] - Building a marketplace for homeowners and contractors
[38:02] - Emerging trends in home electrification
[41:08] - Building in the Toronto tech ecosystem
Episode Links:
If you liked this episode, please leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! You can also send feedback and ideas for future episodes to hello@climatetechcanada.ca.
Modernizing Homes for Low-Carbon Comfort with Paul Sehr of Jouleia