Innovation

Ciel Power provides its customers with home energy audits and energy efficiency retrofits. They do this through auditing insulation, sealing, heating, air conditioning, and hot water systems. They do not provide solar energy solutions but have a partnership with a company called Trinity Solar. As part of their innovation, they offer home energy audits, which help customers understand how their houses are losing energy. Scott Fisher, a member of the management team, mentioned that their work is to "always help our environment. For every energy audit that we do, we plant a tree. Our work makes the planet more sustainable because we insulate and seal houses and use less energy to heat and cool. The most impactful energy is the energy that you don't use." They are experts in insulation and offer a variety of insulation types, like blown-in attic insulation, exterior wall insulation, spray foam insulation, cellulose insulation, fiberglass insulation, and denim insulation for improved comfort and energy efficiency. As part of making homes greener, Ciel provides houses with high-efficiency heating systems, and because of modern technology, they use seal combustion units to optimize indoor air quality. Energy-efficient air conditioning services are also provided with the promise of reduced energy bills and positive environmental impact. They provide On-Demand Hot Water Systems to promote a greener New Jersey, which helps reduce energy waste with the installation of a fan-assisted exhaust that ensures optimal energy usage. Last, they have Heat Pump Hot Water Systems, and these eco-friendly systems, which use ambient air to heat water, provide considerable energy savings and a lower carbon impact for New Jersey residents.

Inspiration

While mentioning a partner, Mr. Fisher talked about how his business came to be. "We started the company in 2010 while we worked together at another job, and we were looking for something, an opportunity to do something good for the world and good for the environment. The inspiration behind Ciel Power was wanting to create a business that could make money and, at the same time, do something good for the world.” As Mr. Fisher explained, much pollution is concentrated in this area (New Jersey), and some days out there, you can barely breathe. While interviewing Mr. Fisher, he explained how the process of energy audits is performed and how time-consuming it can be. In the end, this meaningful work will directly impact our environment.

Ciel Power works with one house at a time, and their technicians spend three hours looking at everything to figure out how the house is losing or wasting energy. They take pages of notes and bring them back to an engineer who enters all that information into their software; that software creates an energy model of the house to understand how it loses or wastes energy. Mr. Fisher explained, "Then, we can see how the model can be improved. If there is only this much insulation, what happens if we add this much insulation? So, the software will calculate how much energy the house will save by making that improvement," Mr. Fisher stated. Ciel Power also helps facilitate eligibility for incentives provided by New Jersey's government. New Jersey's incentive programs are very generous; customers can get up to $5,000 in cash back plus up to $15,000 worth of zero-interest financing. One reason Ciel Power could thrive was New Jersey's strong motivation to change the state to cleaner energy sources.

Overall impact

Ciel Powers has helped people's houses become as energy efficient as possible while attempting to stay carbon neutral as a company by planting trees and only using electric vehicles. Ciel finds themselves responsible for raising the bar by giving “insightful recommendations about budget-friendly improvements that will yield the biggest impact on their home's overall comfort and efficiency,” Mr. Fisher stated. Overall, Ciel Power's impact is very positive to the customers and the environment. Their carbon footprint is improving while the customers are getting a great experience with Ciel's resources for lower energy bills, improved systems with energy use in mind, and a streamlined process.

When asked Mr. Fisher about the short and long-term effects of their service, he mentioned, “The short-term effect is that the house will use less energy to heat itself because of our work this afternoon. It's an immediate impact, and collectively, we've done thousands of houses, so the long-term collective impact of our work on these houses is to make them more efficient. Our average house uses 25% less energy than it did before we arrived. So after we've done thousands and thousands of homes, that collective number is becoming more significant.”

Business benefit

There are many business benefits to being in the renewable energy industry. With the New Jersey Energy Efficiency Incentive Program, homeowners are offered financing options and cash rewards to homeowners who install upgraded HVAC, insulation, and air conditioning systems. This helps the business gain more customers as upgrading the systems in these homeowners' houses has many benefits. Being energy efficient as a company helps businesses reduce their carbon footprint and environmental impact. This can be a significant selling point for environmentally conscious consumers and enhance a company's reputation as a socially responsible entity.

Scott Fisher briefly talked about the Inflation Reduction Act. This act is a powerful piece of legislation that can take us very far towards decarbonization, although it only lasts ten years. "I'm here now seven days a week preparing for us to expand more significantly, and I'm putting in a lot of technology and a lot of new stuff that will help us with the process." He explained the hard work behind his thriving business. He discussed how he has hired developers and is writing software to develop an app that will more efficiently collect the pages of notes they collect on each house. Although they already create home energy audit reports showing the homeowner how their house is losing or wasting energy, soon, they will create pieces that show their customers how to make their home more efficient using electrification.

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Social and environmental benefit

Ciel Power can create awareness of energy efficiency and renewable energy. According to Ciel Power, they have “helped people to save a great deal of energy. It's meaningful work, and it has a direct impact.” This company has chosen to raise the bar by thoroughly inspecting every customer's home to provide enlightening suggestions regarding cost-effective upgrades that will significantly influence their residence's general comfort and functionality.

However, the total impact Ciel Power's business had on the environment has not been calculated yet. They have saved considerable carbon monoxide from entering the environment by transitioning to electric vehicles and the work they do in people's homes. Ciel Power's management team believes that no matter what, we all have an impact on the environment, regardless of how sustainable and eco-friendly we try to be. To counteract their effect on the environment, they have partnered with TreeEra, which plants one tree for each audit they complete. According to Ciel Power, “Planting one tree can offset up to one ton of CO2 in its lifetime!”

Interview

Scott Fisher, Managing Member