INTERVIEW
Greenely: Gamifying energy consumption and saving users money Greenely is a mobile application that gives users the ability to fully control their energy behaviours and make decisions that can save them money and reduce their carbon footprint. International Innovation caught up with Greenely’s CEO Tanmoy Bari at INNOVEIT 2016 to talk about how the app works Can you introduce Greenely? We are using persuasive technologies underpinned by behavioural science in order to change people’s energy behaviour. To achieve this, we created an application called Greenely that helps people reduce their energy consumption. What inspired you to start looking into the space of energy consumption reduction? When I was doing my Master’s thesis, I was looking at the smart city concept for one of the most sustainable cities in Sweden – Stockholm Royal Seaport. My job was to combine several solutions into one concept that did not require a lot of investment and to help people live more sustainably. During my thesis, I saw that there was a ton of potential opportunities in the field of energy visualisation. For example, I thought that the ideas that were already on the market were not scalable and that they were hardware intensive. Greenely usese imagery that shows a planet that dies as energy consumption within a house increases. Why did you decide to use this visualisation? In order for Greenely to operate, it pulls a lot of data from many sources; most of this data doesn’t mean anything on its own. Imagine I told you that you consumed 248 kilowatt hours of energy – that would mean nothing to you.
So we asked ourselves: how do we make a kilowatt hour tangible? My team and I believed that a planet could really visualise that concept. Not only does the planet become an easy-to-understand, visual representation of your energy usage, the app itself also gives you the ability to go into the analytics of your energy use. It shows you patterns in your usage. Why did you decide to integrate concepts of gamification into the app? Energy can be quite boring – you have to make it fun and appealing. Gamification makes the app more fun, appealing and sticky. We didn’t want the app to be appealing only one time; we wanted to get people to use it over a long period of time. Does the app provide advice on changes users can make in their everyday lives to reduce energy consumption and save money? Yes. When the user gives us consent to track their data, we can combine it with data that already exists and new data from their household meters. Looking at the energy loads, we can decipher their activities. For example, we can estimate how much energy is spent on kitchen activities in your household. From that, we can provide tailored advice – both in terms of investment and behaviour – that is specific to the household. Greenely is clearly aggregating a lot of data for the individual user. Is this data of use to energy utilities? Energy utilities notoriously do not have a good relationship with their users; for example, a lot of people in Sweden don’t even know who their energy provider is. But Greenely can change that. So, in addition to having a value proposition for the users, we are also closing the gap between the users and the energy providers. We are helping them create a social relationship that has been absent to date.
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INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION
Entrepreneurship, energy savings and the EIT The European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s innovation community KIC InnoEnergy was integral to Bari’s entrepreneurial efforts. An organisation whose goal is to foster entrepreneurship and innovation across Europe, EIT not only helped Bari build up knowledge about how to start his own business, but it also helped him build a network that has helped him chase his energy saving dreams. Bari shares some of the entrepreneurial lessons he has learned since he started his journey in KIC InnoEnergy. Serial entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary is well-known for saying: “The definition of an entrepreneur is someone who is willing to take risk”. What risks have you taken since you started Greenely?
Are you seeing a change in this relationship starting to manifest thanks to your activities through Greenely?
I started my business when I was at university working on my Master’s thesis, and I got an engineering job offer from the place where I was working on my thesis. But I decided to do something completely different – not having any salary and not knowing how I was going to pay the rent four months into the future, I still decided to be an entrepreneur. That was the biggest risk – to push this idea and try to make it work. How has this risk worked out for you so far?
The initial results of our first pilot in 2015 were very good. Customer engagement and their levels of satisfaction were both very high. We think over time – say in two or three years – we should be able to tell more about key performance indicators.
It is now much easier and cooler. It is still challenging, but the challenges are very different to when we were first starting.
Recently, you were named a finalist in Forbes ‘30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs Making Change in Europe and Around the World’ for your creation of Greenely. What did receiving this nomination mean to you?
It definitely can be, especially at the beginning. The stress that came with it in the beginning was very high for us, because we were constantly asking ourselves: can we finance the company? Will this work? Will customers buy our product?
It was a nice recognition, and Forbes has a great name to it, so it is a stamp that we are doing well. It has also given us extra motivation to continue to work hard.
Is it stressful being an entrepreneur?
It is so much fun, but at the same time it is very challenging. It can be frustrating at times as well.
What’s next for both you and for Greenely?
Are you ever afraid of failing?
We have a partnership coming up with Stanford University. We are launching in California later this year. We are also scaling up in Sweden. We are now at nine full time employees, and we are up to 15 people in the company – this is nice because we started out as two people.
It is not the end of the world if you fail. You just start over and do something else. I would have just gone to find a job somewhere in Sweden. But that was the risk that we took to see if we could make it work – not having anything basically. Considering the entrepreneurial journey you have been on to date, what advice do you have for budding entrepreneurs in Europe? Once you decide to start your venture, go for it full speed. Don’t do it 50 or 60 per cent. I see so many people afraid to take the full step, and for many of them, their idea never happens. It is unfortunate. If you really want to go for your own business or venture, just do it.
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