Dreamers change the world. Donnel Baird, a person who inspires, protects and restores dreams and closes equity gaps, was named the "Dreamer of the Year" for the first time. And no one dreams bigger than Donnel Baird, the CEO and founder of BlocPower.

As a child, Baird grew up in Brooklyn without having a working heating system, so on cold days in winter, people would use their ovens to heat up their apartments. They often opened up the window to release poisonous chemicals, so they wouldn't breathe them in all night. So early on, he was exposed to neglected energy systems and the kind of health and environmental impact that they could have. Baird's early life undeniably fueled his drive for innovation.

"I started BlocPower several years ago with the vision of bringing clean energy to the low income communities where I'd grown up and where I'd been a community organizer," Baird said. America's home-energy industry is dire. Around one-third of the American households struggle to pay their energy bills, and nearly 30% of the US greenhouse gasses come from heating and cooling. BlocPower renovates buildings with solar panels, electric heat pumps, and other green tech to lower energy bills and reduce planet-warming emissions.

And the results are apparent. Since its founding in 2014, BlocPower has worked with over 5,000 American families to green their homes, saving them about 30% on their energy bills each year. BlocPower holds the belief that the solution to the global climate crisis will come from the people who have been most ignored and most devalued. They go into those communities and build up a human and green infrastructure(基础设施) that shows the rest of American society how to resolve the climate crisis.

"My name is Donnel Baird. I am the CEO of BlocPower and I dream fearlessly every day. And we're going to do that in time to resolve the climate crisis so that our children and grand-children can have a shot at enjoying their life," said Baird in the press.