Personal Motivation and Climate Crisis Context

• Speaker: Donnel Baird, CEO of BlocPower
• Has two young children, terrified about climate crisis impacts on their lives
• Questions whether there's specific, achievable, actionable plan to reduce emissions at scale with necessary speed
• Decided to focus on greening buildings in America as response

Building Emissions and Scale in America

• 125 million buildings coast to coast in America
• Buildings are where people cook, eat, work, pray, raise kids
• Americans spend almost 90% of time indoors in buildings
• Buildings powered by fossil fuels: coal and gas at power plants, oil and gas burned in buildings
• Buildings account for 30% of American emissions
• No actionable path to climate response without going building by building to green existing buildings

BlocPower Company Overview

• Technology company focused on moving buildings off fossil fuels
• Goal: make buildings smarter, healthier, greener through 100% electrification
• Analogy to Detroit automotive industry: rip out fossil fuel engines, replace with electric
• Want to rip out fossil fuel equipment, replace with smart green all-electric equipment
• Equipment powered by clean electricity
• References Stanford Professor Mark Jacobson's plan for all 50 states powered by wind, hydroelectric, solar

Personal Background and Fossil Fuel Dangers

• Grew up in one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn without working heating system
• Parents instructed him to use gas oven for heat when cold, open window to prevent carbon monoxide suffocation
• Millions of Americans heat buildings this way in winter
• Visited Harlem apartment complex in 2014 with gas furnace, smelled gas leaking
• Few weeks before visit: apartment building gas furnace exploded, collapsed building and adjacent building, killed 8 people

Health Impacts of Gas Systems

• Gas ovens and heating systems leak benzene, methane, nitrogen dioxide
• Nitrogen dioxide causes about 13% of chronic childhood asthma
• Methane leakage equals emissions of 500,000 gas-powered vehicles
• Benzene is carcinogen, spreads throughout home, lingers
• Benzene exposure can be worse than breathing secondhand cigarette smoke

Electric Alternatives and Technology

• Electric induction ovens use electricity and magnetic induction power
• Hyper efficient, safe, used by finest chefs worldwide
• Can boil hot water in less than 60 seconds
• Cold climate heat pumps described as "silver bullet" for reducing building emissions
• Heat pumps use electricity, refrigerant, compressors to:
  • Pump hot air into home in winter
  • Pump hot air out in summer
  • Heat hot water
  • Fundamentally unhook buildings from fossil fuels

Comprehensive Electrification Solution

• Technologies for Brooklyn building example:
  • Solar panels on roof
  • High efficiency lighting
  • Electric hot water heating systems
  • Electric heat pumps for heating and cooling
  • Electric ovens
  • Electric vehicle charging stations (for car-loving cities like Detroit, LA, Houston)
  • Backup battery systems (due to grid instability from climate crisis heat waves)

Implementation Challenges and Solutions

Finance Problem

• Electrification costs $10,000-$30,000 per building
• Not affordable for average American
• Solution: studied mortgage market model
• Amortize upfront costs over 15 years
• Monthly payments affordable, sometimes lower than fossil fuel costs

Workforce Problem

• Shortage of skilled electricians and technicians across America (similar to Europe)
• Mayor Eric Adams (NYC) asked to train and hire 3,000 vulnerable/low-income individuals:
  • Ex-offenders
  • Gang members
  • Military veterans with PTSD
  • Formerly homeless individuals
• Street gang offered to shut down if hired and given jobs
• Crew of Rikers Island ex-inmates trained, hired, returned to install solar panels in jail parking lot
• Good jobs that can't be outsourced

Data Problem

• Every building unique like snowflake
• Need data collection for right-sized electrification equipment
• Must specify and recommend correct equipment to unhook from fossil fuels
• Working with Bezos Earth Fund to aggregate data on all 125 million buildings across America
• Families can search address, get electrification work plan, hand to trained local electrician

Current Projects and Partnerships

• Working with Ithaca, NY (Cornell location), San Jose, Menlo Park
• Cities committed to 100% decarbonization by 2030
• Going building by building to move off fossil fuels, make all-electric
• 6.5 years remaining for 2030 goal
• Dozens of cities across country: Portland OR, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago
• Working with partners to electrify buildings at scale

Vision and Impact

• Electrification possible but not simple or easy
• Scalability concept: one building → whole block → neighborhood → city → country
• "Be the change you wish to see in the world"
• Expected outcomes:
  • Create great jobs
  • Massive economic and public health benefits
  • Inspire cities and countries worldwide to electrify
• Goal: look children in eyes and say doing everything possible to reduce emissions at speed and scale to fight climate catastrophe