Modernizing Homes for Low-Carbon Comfort with Paul Sehr from Jouleia

Paul Sehr is the co-founder of Jouleia, a new home modernization platform. Paul started Jouleia after modernizing & electrifying his own home - and realizing just how complex it can be.

Jouleia is modernizing homes for the electric age. Over 11 million Canadian homes require energy retrofits, covering everything from installing heat pumps to air sealing to improving insulation. Jouleia is simplifying the home retrofit process with a suite of free resources and their Home Expert Service, which handles the research and planning process of the retrofit while connecting homeowners with contractors and financing options.

Paul is a serial entrepreneur, having previously co-founded & run technology at FinanceIt (acquired, now Canada's largest home improvement lender). He has a technical background, with extensive executive experience in the fintech & home improvement sectors.

In our conversation, we cover:

[1:26] - How Paul got interested in this area by modernizing his own home

[5:02] - The problem Jouleia is solving in the market

[9:24] - Putting together the founding team

[11:13] - Building science and why they look at buildings as a system

[15:20] - Heat pump performance in cold temperatures

[17:33] - How we can accelerate retrofitting the millions of buildings needed for net-zero

[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 his time at FinanceIt

[31:06] - Initial traction with customers

[33:15] - Finding product market fit

[36:15] - Connecting homeowners and contractors in a marketplace

[38:02] - Emerging trends in home electrification

[41:08] - Building in the Toronto tech ecosystem and how its evolved