Transforming Wind with Erika Boeing, CEO & Founder of Accelerate Wind

Hardware to Save a Planet · 9 Jun 2022 · 34m · Episode 2

What this episode covers

Erika Boeing, CEO and founder of Accelerate Wind, explains how her company is developing rooftop wind turbines for commercial buildings to generate affordable, local energy. She details their patent-pending powertrain, which uses a compact flywheel for intermediate energy storage to lower the cost of power electronics, and describes the 'spoiler' airfoil design that accelerates wind flow at roof edges. Boeing discusses the company's go-to-market strategy of partnering with solar installers to leverage existing networks, and outlines their current stage of validating prototypes at Argon National Lab while navigating certification challenges.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • TRADEOFFS · 59m

    T-25-008 : Justin McAfee - Mechanical Engineer to Hardware as a Service CEO

    Justin McAfee, founder of Wright One, discusses his journey from a failed firefighter grenade launcher project to building advanced electric propulsion systems in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He explains how high tariffs forced the onshoring of manufacturing for his modular CPU cooling fans, which serve cryptocurrency miners with a 'cooling as a service' model. McAfee details the technical architecture of his ducted electric turbines, designed to enable affordable flying cars, and shares his strategy for navigating hardware fundraising by focusing on investors who understand the long-term vision rather than the commodity nature of the initial product.

  • Being an Engineer · 50m

    S2E38 Clear Professional Growth Paths, Women in STEM, & Identifying Burnout | Stephanie Slocum

    Stephanie Slocum, PE, founder and CEO of Engineers Rising, discusses her journey from structural engineering to advocating for women in STEM. She explains how skyscraper engineers use wind tunnel tests and sophisticated 3D modeling to manage resonant frequencies and wind loads on tall buildings. Slocum details the competitive, unpaid quoting process for large infrastructure projects and shares her mission to help women navigate career growth, burnout, and workplace bias through her organization.

  • How I Built This · 47m

    Reinvesting in our cities with renewable energy with Donnel Baird of BlocPower (2022)

    Donnel Baird, founder of BlocPower, explains how he founded the company to electrify and decarbonize low-income buildings, drawing on his childhood experience in Brooklyn where residents used gas ovens for heat. He details BlocPower’s business model of financing full building conversions—replacing fossil fuel systems with heat pumps and induction stoves—so that energy savings cover the loan costs. Baird discusses the company's growth, its partnership with the city of Ithaca to electrify every building, and its strategy to scale through Wall Street capital, government incentives, and public crowdfunding.

  • The Next Byte Podcast · 26m

    232. Turbine Innovations For A Greener Future [Rerun]

    Hosts discuss MIT research on optimizing wind farm output through software that coordinates turbine yaw to reduce wake interference, yielding a 1.2-3% efficiency gain. They then profile Natal Energy, a startup founded by siblings Gia and Abe Schneider, which designs fish-friendly hydro turbines with rounded blades to mitigate environmental damage while maintaining 90%+ efficiency. The episode highlights how these incremental hardware and software tweaks can significantly boost global renewable energy capacity without new construction.

  • How I Built This · 40m

    Electrifying aviation with Kyle Clark of BETA Technologies

    Kyle Clark, founder and CEO of BETA Technologies, explains how a chance encounter with United Therapeutics founder Martine Rothblatt pivoted his company from a personal passenger aircraft concept to building the Alia, an all-electric cargo aircraft. Clark details the rapid development of the Alia, including the decision to scrap the initial 'Ava' prototype to achieve a simpler, certifiable design with a 250-nautical-mile range. The episode covers BETA's strategy to disrupt logistics by creating a mesh network for point-to-point delivery, partnering with major carriers like UPS and Amazon, and establishing a national charging infrastructure to support zero-emission aviation.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Hardware to Save a Planet. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.