MYSA RANSOMWARE
As another Newfoundland and Labrador winter rolls around , rising energy costs are top-of-mind for just about everybody . A new company , Empowered Homes , has developed smart thermostat technology that works with high-voltage energy systems — a first for homes with electric baseboard heating . Called the Mysa , the thermostat has presold 1,400 units to 420 customers , many of whom have put one in each of the most central rooms in their homes .
The idea for Mysa came to Joshua Green , who cofounded the company in 2016 with his younger brother Zachary , when he worked as an energy auditor , pointing out weaknesses in residential heating systems . As part of his cost-saving recommendations , Joshua would ask his customers about taking advantage of their programmable thermostats . The answer he heard was resoundingly negative : they are too difficult to program using just the one or two buttons incorporated in the unit . “ When you ’ re talking about seven days a week , many different rooms , and different temperatures in each room throughout the day , the process just got too complicated for people ,” says Joshua . Yet this was the best way for these residents to save on their heating bills .
Unlike most of North America , where only about 10 percent of homes use electric baseboard heating , Newfoundland has baseboard heating in more than half of its homes . Others in this category include northern cities such as British Columbia , Québec City , and Seattle — places that have other sources of low-cost energy , such as hydropower and natural gas .
Joshua got to work designing the smart thermostat , soon to be joined by Zachary who was finishing up university . Once Zachary officially joined Empowered Homes , he took over the business end of the company while Joshua focused on product development . Both are mechanical engineers , equally adept at talking technology with investors as they seek out working capital to fund their business .
Zachary ’ s task was to prove that the company ’ s concept had merit , so his goal was to get people excited enough about the product to preorder units at about CAD $ 100 apiece . Although they had received initial funding from the provincial and national governments , they knew they would need a lot more cash to move into production . “ We needed traction to show potential investors that there was a market out there and that people were willing to pay for it ,” said Zachary .
The company launched its first website and experimented with ways to drive traffic . If nobody knew that the product or site existed , they would have no luck generating preorders . Discovering that “ Wi-Fi baseboard thermostat ” was a common search term , Zachary started buying Google ads and gaining better visibility for Mysa . Over time , he continued honing the company ’ s online advertising strategy to get better exposure but still rein in costs . In a nod to normal human nature , the brothers decided not to request payment for preorders up front since production and delivery would still be several months away .
Once the preorders started accumulating , two of the province ’ s most active investment companies — Killick Capital and Pelorus Venture Capital — decided to join forces , providing the CAD 600,000 investment the growing company needed for staff and production . Now the total staff numbers fifteen , the majority of whom are on the product development and technology side .
Having fulfilled the original Mysa orders , the team intends to dive into the development of other energy-saving products , including a device to control mini split heat pumps , which many Canadians also have . They are also trying to develop technology that will allow utilities to directly manage a homeowner ’ s energy consumption , potentially reducing heating costs substantially . At the same time , the team will continue to promote Mysa , working toward their goal of increasing not only the number of customers but also the number of units ordered per customer .
Joshua and Zachary — along with many of their employees — see their roles as not just entrepreneurs but as conservators of the environment in some small part . Visit getmysa . com to preorder a Mysa and read the accompanying spotlight to learn how Joshua incorporates energy-saving measures into his everyday lifestyle . +
MEET JOSHUA GREEN
Joshua Green , CEO of Empowered Homes , always knew he wanted to pursue a career that was meaningful to him in an important way . In his first job , he was an energy auditor , inspired by the idea of helping homeowners save on their heating bills . Now , he enjoys being even more involved in helping conserve energy through his company ’ s Mysa thermostat .
Joshua also has tried to imbue his everyday life with this conservation mind-set . He plants his own vegetable garden at home with onions , tomatoes , lettuce , spinach , and berries — all elements of his plant-based diet . “ My goal in doing this is to reduce the distance my food has to travel and thus reduce my overall carbon footprint ,” he says . About a year ago , he went from being vegetarian to vegan , choosing to forgo foods that come directly from animals , such as milk , eggs , and cheese . He once was an avid meat eater but stopped due to cattle ’ s extremely high level of greenhouse gas emissions . Now , he conserves even more by composting his food scraps , which he then uses to fertilize his garden for the following season .
Joshua drives a hybrid vehicle and is looking forward to the delivery of his new electric car next year . Whenever he can , given the cold Newfoundland winters , he walks or bikes for transportation . He makes it a policy to avoid flying if ground transportation will do the trick .
In his spare time , he and his girlfriend participate in litter cleanup campaigns and try to spread the word about conservation . Recently , he helped his dad build and install solar panels for his home .
“ Life is short and work consumes a lot of your daily life ,” notes Joshua , “ so it ’ s important for my business to align with my personal values and beliefs . My values are core to me , so I ’ ve built my work life to incorporate the themes of conservation and sustainability .”
31