CNBC by Alicia Doniger 12/7/2021
Key Points
• The Bezos Earth Fund granted $5.5 million to BlocPower, a 2021 CNBC Disruptor 50 company that focuses on commercial and residential building energy efficiency.
• BlocPower is working with large and small communities across the U.S. to decarbonize buildings, including its hometown of New York City and Ithaca, New York, which recently began a 100% decarbonization plan.
• BlocPower estimates that buildings across the country waste as much as $100 billion on fossil fuel consumption annually.
The Bezos Earth Fund announced new donations of $443 million to a wide range of climate and environmental groups this week, including a $5.5 million grant to BlocPower, an energy efficiency technology start-up focused on building construction and retrofits in urban areas.
BlocPower, which is a CNBC Disruptor 50 company, has completed 1,000 green energy projects to date in the New York City area. It plans to use the Bezos grant to add 125 million buildings and additional cities to its BlocMaps software database, which identifies buildings in need of energy efficiency upgrades and helps building owners learn how to electrify and decarbonize properties.
This year, BlocPower also launched a WiFi service that offers low-income neighborhoods free internet and gives BlocPower a look at local energy usage, which it says can lead to potential energy savings of between 20%-70% annually for customers.
BlocPower, founded in 2014 and based in Brooklyn, has been focused on a business model that combines the traditional construction and engineering sector with climate technology, and increased investment opportunities in underserved communities. Driven by green and social justice mission, BlocPower says its energy-efficiency approach pays off in the form of increased building values and lowered building operating costs in many of New York’s disadvantaged communities. It has other projects underway in 24 additional U.S. cities.
“The goal of the Bezos Earth Fund is to support change agents who are seizing the challenges that this decisive decade presents,” Andrew Steer, President and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund, said in a statement announcing this week’s grants. “Through these grants, we are advancing climate justice and the protection of nature, two areas that demand stronger action.”
More:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/07/bezos-climate-fund-gives-millions-to-energy-start-up-blocpower.html
