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

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2023-06-22
- Length: 47m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-06-22-reinvesting-in-our-cities-with-renewable-energy-with-donnel-baird-of-blocpower-2

## Summary

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.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-06-22-reinvesting-in-our-cities-with-renewable-energy-with-donnel-baird-of-blocpower-2#t=0) Introduction: Donnel Baird and BlocPower
- [2:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-06-22-reinvesting-in-our-cities-with-renewable-energy-with-donnel-baird-of-blocpower-2#t=148) Childhood in Brooklyn and Energy Poverty
- [4:57](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-06-22-reinvesting-in-our-cities-with-renewable-energy-with-donnel-baird-of-blocpower-2#t=297) Obama Campaign and DOE Experience
- [12:48](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-06-22-reinvesting-in-our-cities-with-renewable-energy-with-donnel-baird-of-blocpower-2#t=768) Founding BlocPower and the Business Model
- [20:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-06-22-reinvesting-in-our-cities-with-renewable-energy-with-donnel-baird-of-blocpower-2#t=1214) Electrification Technology and Hardware
- [26:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-06-22-reinvesting-in-our-cities-with-renewable-energy-with-donnel-baird-of-blocpower-2#t=1611) Financing Projects and Customer Savings
- [31:39](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-06-22-reinvesting-in-our-cities-with-renewable-energy-with-donnel-baird-of-blocpower-2#t=1899) Workforce Development and Ithaca Partnership
- [34:59](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-06-22-reinvesting-in-our-cities-with-renewable-energy-with-donnel-baird-of-blocpower-2#t=2099) Profitability, IPO Plans, and Market Strategy
- [42:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-06-22-reinvesting-in-our-cities-with-renewable-energy-with-donnel-baird-of-blocpower-2#t=2561) Capital Sources and Broadening Climate Investment

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Hiring & workforce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/hiring-and-workforce)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)
- [Energy & climate tech](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/energy-and-climate-tech)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- BlocPower (company)
- Goldman Sachs (company)
- Tesla (company)
- Microsoft (company)
- Ithaca (other)
- heat pumps (product)
- induction stoves (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Decarbonizing Heating and Housing Spaces: A Conversation with Jane Melia, Co-Founder and CEO of Harvest](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-08-03-decarbonizing-heating-and-housing-spaces-a-conversation-with-jane-melia-co-found) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [How Base Power plans to use its fresh $1B [re-published]](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2026-04-16-how-base-power-plans-to-use-its-fresh-1b-re-published) (Catalyst)
- [How a User-Installable Heat Pump Can Decarbonize Apartment Buildings: Insights from Vince Romanin, CEO of Gradient](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-10-12-how-a-user-installable-heat-pump-can-decarbonize-apartment-buildings-insights-fr) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [Using Efficient Heat Pumps to Cut CO2 Emissions with Paul Lambert, Founder and CEO of Quilt](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-08-31-using-efficient-heat-pumps-to-cut-co2-emissions-with-paul-lambert-founder-and-ce) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [Transforming Wind with Erika Boeing, CEO & Founder of Accelerate Wind](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2022-06-09-transforming-wind-with-erika-boeing-ceo-founder-of-accelerate-wind) (Hardware to Save a Planet)

## Citing this page

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