Conservation isn't usually credited with being the mother of invention.
But for Danny Tuff, his father's long-standing fixation on turning off lights and saving electricity has become the seed that grew into a burgeoning company, Blue Line Innovations Inc.
In the process, Mr. Tuff has achieved a life-long goal of running his own company and has turned his father's idea into the world's largest deployment of real-time energy feedback technology.
For this achievement, Danny has earned BDC's Young Entrepreneur Award for Newfoundland and Labrador and will be honoured at a ceremony in Moncton, New Brunswick on Tuesday.
"It was an idea my dad had," explained Mr. Tuff, 31. "Like most dads, he was trying to get us to use less electricity."
The idea sounds simple enough, create a device that tells you exactly how much your energy costs are in real time, so you can track your savings when you turn off lights, or turn down that air conditioner. Blue Line's innovation, the Powercost Monitor, is an in-home table-top unit that works like a "speedometer for energy consumption." The only one of its kind on the market, the monitor displays in real-time and dollars and cents how much electricity the consumer is using.
"My brother [Maurice] is an electrical engineer, my background is in marketing and business development," said Mr. Tuff. "We always wanted to start our own business, to be entrepreneurs. We wanted to work for ourselves. I think it was passed on by mom and dad, who did multiple things throughout their own lives to try and make a better living for us. We just knew we wanted start our own business.
"It was an idea that made a lot of sense at the time. The first instance of the idea was 13 years ago. Ten years later, we started the company. It took a while to gestate, but my brother went off to do his engineering degree. I did a philosophy degree, then did a business degree."
Mr. Tuff says that while the idea was tucked away, he gained valuable business experience. These experiences would ultimate give him the confidence to launch his company and develop the family's long-held entrepreneurial idea.
"At the time I didn't probably see it as I was preparing myself for something. It turns out that all those things I did in the past, including the philosophy degree helped. It all helped prepare me to where we are today.
"I'm hoping it's going to be enough to keep us going," he adds with a laugh.
To that end, Mr. Tuff is plenty of power in supply. Blue Line has undertaken pilot projects with Hydro One, B.C. Hydro, Newfoundland Power, London (Ontario) Hydro, and has done work with Southern California Edison and appliance manufacturer Whirlpool.
Results of the Hydro One pilot were so positive that the utility is now extending the project to 30,000 customers in the northern part of the province. Preparing for the $4.5-million contract has meant scaling up for Blue Line, which counts 12 employees; the company is working with an Ottawa manufacturer and a logistics firm that will be responsible for order fulfilment and customer service.
"We've tested our product in different markets for the past two years. Some of the research was very rigid and structured," he explained, citing the work done by McMaster University's Dr. Dean Mountain who was hired by Hydro One in Ontario.
"That, plus our own research, demonstrated that people save up to 20 per cent off their electricity bill just by having the basic information about their electricity consumption. We get e-mails and calls all the time from people who say, 'look I've been teaching my kids about electricity in ways I never thought possible,'" said Mr. Tuff.
"Consumer savings is a huge reason to use the product. It is also good for the environment, the less electricity you use the lower the greenhouse gas emissions," said Mr. Tuff. "We have an energy supply problem. If you implement this technology on a large scale you can have a major impact on the grid."
According to Mr. Tuff, the success of Blue Line is shared by every member of his large family.
"You can imagine our mom and dad are proud of all the children and their achievements. And certainly with Blue Line with how that has progressed, we all played a role in it."
Mr. Tuff attributes Blue Line's growing success to his network of supporters: from employees, investors and customers to the Newfoundland government, the National Research Council, ACOA and BDC. "You can't do it alone," he said. "You have to rely on that network of people who believe in what you're doing. Our supporters have bought into the idea, they've believed and trusted. And I've always made sure there were no excuses for not doing what we said we would do."
"Danny stands out as a role model for young Canadian entrepreneurs," says BDC President and CEO Jean-René Halde. "In a world where energy conservation is so important, Blue Line Innovations has made an important breakthrough. It's a pleasure to recognize his passion, drive and excellence with this award."
For the rest of the BDC award winners check out the winners photo gallery attached to this story.
