Hardware Podcasts

HIBT Lab! BlocPower: Donnel Baird

How I Built This · 7 Jul 2022 · 47m

What this episode covers

Donnel Baird, founder of BlocPower, explains how he built a for-profit company to electrify low-income buildings, drawing on his upbringing in Brooklyn where residents used gas ovens for heat. He details the technical process of replacing fossil fuel systems with heat pumps and induction stoves, and the financial model that allows building owners to repay upgrades through energy savings. Baird also discusses the company's partnership with cities like Ithaca, its competitive advantage in serving underserved markets, and his vision for broad-based investment in the green energy transition.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
BlocPower, Goldman Sachs, Tesla, Rivian, Mitsubishi, Daikin, Fujitsu, Microsoft, U.S. Bank
Also
Ithaca

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