Bloc Power + City of San Luis Obispo

Overview

Bloc Power + City of San Luis Obispo will collaborate to retrofit 10-12 affordable multi-family housing units in San Luis Obispo with HPWH and Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP) and will establish a Green and Healthy Homes Roundtable to engage community members and develop a communications plan.

Market Barrier

The City of San Luis Obispo has ambitious climate goals and a policy requiring all new construction to be all-electric – but retrofitting existing buildings, including multifamily and low-income housing, is an ongoing challenge.  New approaches are needed to elevate and socialize electrification in the broader community, develop retrofit project models, and build workforce capacity.

Proposed Solution

Bloc Power, in partnership with the City of San Luis Obispo, will complete pilot building electrification (heat pump water heater and heat pump HVAC) retrofits in 10-12 affordable multi-family housing units. A Community Advisory Board (CAB) will also be established that engages and empowers community members to participate in the equitable rollout and implementation of electrification programs within and beyond the City. The project will implement a communications plan to elevate and socialize building electrification in the broader community.

Theory of Change

This project couples both immediate, concrete action with a firm grounding in community engagement to lead to increased awareness of residents, developers and designers.  It can serve as an example for how community-driven project identification and delivery can lead directly to the installation of heat pumps, while also creating a broad coalition of support for more rapid adoption, increased awareness of builders and designers, and a better- aligned workforce.

Housing Type:

Multi-family deed-restricted affordable housing

Technology:

HPWH and ASHP

Location:

San Luis Obispo, CA