Watch Episode 6 of the New Normal: Clean Energy Economy Entrepreneur Danny Kennedy
Danny Kennedy, CEO of New Energy Nexus, dropped serious knowledge in our conversation and we came away feeling empowered and hopeful. Among the adaptation strategies and takeaways:
Conditions are favorable for positive disruption at scale. Danny says the pandemic has created an even greater headwind for renewables, clean energy grids and green mobility. Incumbents will find it harder to restart and recover.
Investors: play offense, not defense. Impact investment needs to do a 10x from current levels. Place lots of bets. High attrition is okay in this creative destruction cycle. Focus on Asia and Africa, where 80% of the global population will be by the end dates of climate scenarios.
Jobs, jobs, jobs. Compared to dirty energy, renewable energy futures will create 4-9x more jobs. Policymakers and politicians need to adopt a public works mentality, and campaigns need to emphasize high-quality jobs.
Danny Kennedy is the CEO of New Energy Nexus, connecting entrepreneurs everywhere to capital to build an abundant clean energy economy that benefits all. New Energy Nexus is a global platform organization for funds and incubators, with chapters in the USA, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Uganda and India. He acts as Managing Director of the California Clean Energy Fund. This includes overseeing the CalSEED.fund of $25m for very early stage companies driving innovation and building equity in the California economy and the $12m CalTestBed initiative with UCOP. He is an adviser to Young Greentech Entrepreneurs in China with the Asia Society. Kennedy also serves as President of CalCharge, a public-private partnership with DoE National Labs, universities in California, unions and companies, working to advance energy storage.
Kennedy co-founded Sungevity in 2007, the company that created remote solar design, and Powerhouse, an incubator and fund in Oakland, CA. He was the first backer of Mosaic in 2011, the $1B solar loan provider, and remains on the Board of Powerhive, a solar mini-utility in Kenya. He was a founding Director of Sunergise, the solar-as-a-service business out of Fiji and the EnergyLab Australia. He is also a Director of the non-profits Power for All and Confluence Philanthropy and adviser to the company Solar Philippines. Kennedy authored Rooftop Revolution: How Solar Power Can Save Our Economy – and Our Planet – from Dirty Energy in 2012. Prior to being an entrepreneur and investor he worked at Greenpeace and other NGOs on climate & energy since 1989.
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