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BlocPower, a start-up based in Brooklyn, is working to turn more than 1,200 old and outdated buildings in New York City into ‘green’ energy users.

Source: CNBC Television/Youtube

The start-up came with a revolutionary idea of how to make it easier for landlords and owners to turn their homes’ green’. The company will lease equipment to easily make the transition. They will lease eco-friendly heating and cooling systems, electric appliances, and solar panels. They will even install the equipment and manage the maintenance on them, and all the landlords need to do is make monthly payments and offer returns to investors.

The company leases the equipment for 10 to 15 years, and after there is enough money to pay back investors and for BlocPower to collect the fees, the ownership of the items will be transferred to the building owner.

“We’re going to decrease the amount of oil and gas and fossil fuels that these buildings consume, decrease the amount of emissions that are created,” BlocPower CEO Donnel Baird said. “We’re going to save the building owners money, and hey, you’re actually going to make 10% financial returns by investing in these buildings.”

The company’s current projects have already reduced building energy costs from 30 to 50 percent and reduced emissions by 40 to 70 percent. They believe that in 10 years, they will be able to reduce U.S. global greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent and reduce the millions spent on nonrenewable energy by 30 percent. They are also working to improve energy efficiency in low-income neighborhoods to reduce energy bills.

These old Brooklyn buildings were not made to be eco-friendly and sustainable and often have outdated boilers and carbon-emitting gas lines.

BlocPower has already gotten many well-known investors, and recently, it got a huge amount of money from Microsoft, which brought their total funding to $100 million. Then, in another massive win for the company, they received $5 million from the Bezos Earth Fund to digitally map out 125 million buildings across America with the intent to make a free plan for how they can become sustainable.

The company is in the works with several other cities in states like California, New York, Massachusetts, and Georgia, working to decarbonize and move towards net zero. We need to move towards a renewable future now more than ever. This is an amazing company, and their programs can hopefully be implemented all over the country. Sign this petition to help put an end to the fossil fuel industry!

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