We’re kicking off a new employee spotlight series to introduce you to the people behind Cala’s technology. Each post will give you a closer look at the skills, ideas, and experiences driving the development of our intelligent heat pump water heater, launching next month. By sharing the stories of our team, we want to show you how their work is shaping a better, smarter way to heat water and why we think you’ll be just as excited about Cala as we are.

Kicking things off, we’re proud to feature Phil Connaughton, our VP of Software. Get to know Phil:

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Q: Can you describe your role at Cala? What does a typical day look like for you?

A: I oversee everything software related, from the code running directly on the water heater — which controls the heat pump and handles things like updates — to the algorithms that decide how much to heat the water, to the user interfaces on the device and mobile app, and all the way up to our cloud backend.

We are a small software team so I am very hands-on in the software development. My day ranges from writing code in any one of those systems, to reviewing code with the team and architecting software solutions.

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Q: What’s your background? How has your past experience in software shaped the way you approach building intelligent, energy-efficient technology at Cala?

A: I started my career at Runkeeper, which is a mobile fitness application. I spent years in iOS and Android development, learning how to build quality customer-focused applications. We closely monitored our users' data to understand how to keep them engaged and running. A few years ago, I pivoted from fitness-focused products to environmentally-focused ones, which led me to Running Tide. At Running Tide, my teams built embedded applications running in buoys in the ocean, which were built to measure ocean carbon dioxide removal. I also helped build applications for automating a shellfish cleaning, grading and counting process. 

I discovered that I loved being at the intersection of hardware and software and so Cala was a perfect fit for me. I love Cala’s desire to make water heating more carbon neutral. At Cala, I get to tackle a highly sophisticated controls algorithm while delivering a top notch customer experience.

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Q: What made you want to join Cala? How does the mission align with what matters to you?

A: Climate change is the most important issue facing humanity today. At Cala, we are focused on delivering a high quality product but also one that is environmentally focused. Sure, heat pump water heaters aren’t going to be the silver bullet that solves climate change, but there is no silver bullet. It’s going to take a wide variety of solutions. 

One major area for improvement is home electrification and that’s where HPWHs fit in. On the whole, people want to be environmentally friendly and reduce their energy bill, so HPWHs are a great solution for traditional electric resistance water heaters and/or gas powered ones. However, most people don’t want to sacrifice comfort and that’s where the existing HPWHs fall short. With Cala, we can provide the experience of a traditional water heater AND do so using far less energy.

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Q: What does “intelligence” mean in the context of Cala’s product and how do you help deliver that?

A: My team sits at the heart of Cala’s intelligence. We are responsible for developing the core algorithms that determine when to heat the water. We use a controls algorithm called Model Predictive Controls, which in our applications takes in a wide variety of data feeds, like historical water usage, electricity pricing, carbon footprint of the grid, and expected solar production, and use that as inputs for determining when to heat your home’s water. The algorithm runs tens of thousands of simulations to determine the optimal time to heat the water.

On top of what happens on the hardware itself, we do extensive modeling work and run simulations on computers built for mining crypto to map out all of the different scenarios and water draw profiles that a water heater can expect. We analyze the results and then tune our models to deliver a solution that always delivers hot water (when possible) and does so at the cheapest rate, without risking comfort.

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Q: How do you approach designing software that’s powerful under the hood, but simple for users to interact with?

A: Most homeowners don’t want to think about their hot water — they just expect it to be there when they need it. So the ideal interaction with our device is no interaction at all. For the majority of users, they’ll set it up once — pricing, solar, preferences — and then forget about it.

That said, we also know some homeowners are curious and want visibility into how their system is performing. The Cala app is designed for both. It gives anyone a clear, intuitive view of their water usage, energy consumption, and system performance. And for those who want to dig deeper, the app offers detailed insights and visibility into how Cala is optimizing in the background, so they can trust the system is working for them.

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Q: What kinds of data do Cala units collect, and how is that data used to improve performance and experience?

A: Cala primarily collects data on water usage and this is used to make a prediction on when water will be consumed in the future. All of this data lives on the device and doesn’t require an internet connection. For data that does make it to the cloud, we can use it to further train our algorithms and models and can perform over the air updates to continue to improve installed units. 

We do collect other operational data as well to understand the performance of the overall system and will build ways in the future for our network of contractors to be able to quickly analyze units remotely before going to a home to troubleshoot any issues.

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Q: What excites you most about the future of connected home devices and how is Cala leading in that space?

A: This might sound odd coming from a software engineer, but I think the IoT and connected home promise has been a bit of a let down. It turns out there isn’t much value in having appliances connected to Wifi. However, the same is not true for water heaters, which can essentially operate as thermal batteries. Having the water heater connected to the internet so it can see changes in electricity rates is very exciting. Furthermore, having it connected to your solar system, inverters, batteries, and electric panel can provide real cost savings and that is also very exciting.