Podknife - Ep 109: Danny Kennedy, CEO of New Energy Nexus by My Climate Journey

Help
Help

Suggested Topics
- What is Podknife?
  
  Podknife is a curated podcast information and review site designed to be accessible in your browser from any device. We’re working to build the most useful podcast information source available by providing you with as much publicly available information about each podcast in our database as we can find and keeping it as up to date as possible.
- Can I listen to podcasts on Podknife?
  
  Yeah! There's a player at the bottom of the page.
- How can I get my podcast on Podknife?
  
  We’d love to hear about your podcast and consider it for addition. You can suggest your own by logging in and selecting the “Suggest a Podcast” link from the menu. Fill out the form and we’ll take it from there.
- How can I submit a review of a podcast?
  
  To submit a review of a podcast, go to the page of the podcast you want to review and click the "Submit Review" button below the image associated with the podcast. Clicking that button brings you to a new page where you can select a rating between 1 and 5 stars and write a brief review.
- How can I submit a review of a podcast episode?
  
  To submit a review of a podcast episode, go to the page of the podcast whose episode you want to review and find the specific episode you're looking for. Clicking on any episode reveals a "View Episode" button and clicking on that brings you to an episode-specific page where you can find more information displayed about the episode along with a "Submit Review" button. Clicking that brings you to a new page where you can select a rating between 1 and 5 stars and write a brief review of the episode.
- Is there a Podknife app?
  
  Not yet - we're keeping it in the browser at least for now. No app download required to access anything on the site.
- How can I change my display name?
  
  To change your display name, log in to Podknife and select "Account Settings" in the dropdown menu. From the Account Settings page, enter your desired new display name and press the "Save" button to confirm the change.
- How can I change my password?
  
  To change your password, log in to Podknife and select "Account Settings" in the dropdown menu. From the Account Settings page, enter your desired new password in the two fields below "Update Password" and press the "Save" button to confirm the change.
- How can I keep track of all my reviews?
  
  Within the menu, click on "My Profile", you will then be able to check all your reviews for both podcast & episode. You can also check all your favorite podcasts.
- How can I keep track of all my favorited podcasts?
  
  You can find podcasts you’ve favorited displayed on the My Profile page associated with your account (https://podknife.com/profile).
  You can share your My Profile page displaying your favorite podcasts as well as any reviews you’ve written publicly with a link in the form https://podknife.com/users/[displayname] where [displayname] is replaced by your Display Name.
- How can I favorite a podcast?
  
  On each podcast page you’ll find the outline of a star above the podcast title. Clicking this star fills it in and designates the podcast as a favorite (for logged in users) or invites the user to log in or register for an account (for users who are not logged in). You can find favorited podcasts displayed on the My Profile page associated with your account (https://podknife.com/profile).
- How can I register for a Podknife account?
  
  To register, click on the “Register” button in the top right of your browser window (or visit https://podknife.com/users/sign_up). Enter a Display Name to be associated with your account on the site (alongside any reviews you contribute, for example), an Email address to associate with the account and your password (twice for confirmation). Press the “Confirm” button and you should be all set, logged in and ready to review and favorite podcasts as you wish.
- How can I get in touch?
  
  We’d love to hear from you. You can reach us using the Feedback form (https://podknife.com/feedbacks/new) which can be found either in the footer on each page (for users who are not logged in) or in the dropdown menu (for logged in users).
  
  You can also reach us on Twitter by tweeting us @podknife (https://twitter.com/podknife) or on Facebook by messaging us from our page (https://www.facebook.com/podknife/).
- Log In
- Register
- Feedback
- Help
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Use
© Podknife 2025

This episode currently has no reviews.

Submit Review

Favorite Add to Queue

Ep 109: Danny Kennedy, CEO of New Energy Nexus

Podcast |: My Climate Journey
Publisher |: Jason Jacobs, Cody Simms, Yin Lu
Media Type |: audio
Podknife tags |: Climate Change,; Interview,; Science & Medicine
Categories Via RSS |: Business,; Science,; Technology
Publication Date |: Jun 22, 2020
Episode Duration |: 00:59:27

Description
iTunes Summary

Today's guest is Danny Kennedy, CEO of New Energy Nexus.

We have a great discussion in this episode, covering a wide range of topics including Danny's background and experience, what led him to become an activist, his interest in climate change and how that interest has manifested over the years. In addition, we touch on how his views on the problem have evolved and also where he's spending his portfolio of time today. Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

In today’s episode, we cover:

How Oakland, CA has become the clean tech capital of the Bay Area
Danny’s work as an activist and entrepreneur to address climate change
How addressing climate change requires a war effort
How renewable energy presents not only a climate opportunity but also a much-needed employment opportunity
How Danny got into climate work and his underlying motivation
Danny’s journey into solar and founding his first startup
How the problem of climate change has evolved since Danny began his work
How clean tech and U.S. leadership in the movement represents a huge economic opportunity
How grassroots entrepreneurship is making up for an absence of government action
What government leadership to address climate change would need to look like
How the government-command of industry priorities to respond to COVID-19 is emblematic for what is required to address climate change
What the viable renewable energy mix for the future looks like
How Danny would address the main contributing sectors to GHG emissions
How effort needs to be focused on Africa and Asia, which will be the long-term contributors to carbon
How financial and software engineering are ripe areas of innovation
What is New Energy Nexus (NEN) and its mission
How NEN’s Clean Energy Fund invested in Tesla and other clean tech companies
How the “puck” of opportunity and innovation is headed to Asia
NEN’s clean energy accelerator in Indonesia
How Danny thought about incorporating NEN as a non-profit vs. for-profit model
Danny’s role in co-founding Oakland-based incubator, Powerhouse

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

New Energy Nexus: https://www.newenergynexus.com/about/
California Carbon-Free By 2045 Goal: clean-energy.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/business/energy-environment/california-clean-energy.html
kWh Analytics: https://www.kwhanalytics.com/
California Clean Energy Fund: http://www.calcef.org/
Bridge Lux: https://www.bridgelux.com/
Powerhouse: https://www.powerhouse.fund/

Get connected with MCJ:

Cody Simms X / LinkedIn
MCJ Podcast / Collective / YouTube

*If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a review! You can also reach us via email at info@mcj.vc, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Today's guest is Danny Kennedy, CEO of New Energy Nexus. Danny is a clean energy veteran, who has worked in environmental advocacy, solar entrepreneurship and in the public sector. The nonprofit he leads, New Energy Nexus, is an organization that connects entrepreneurs globally with capital for the purpose of building an abundant clean energy economy. Danny has also served as the managing director of the California Clean Energy Fund (an early-investor in Tesla), which includes overseeing the $25 million Cal Seed Fund. He's an advisor to young green tech entrepreneurs in China with the Asia Society as well as the president of Cal Charge, a public private partnership working to advance energy storage. In 2007, he cofounded Sungevity, which worked on remote solar design. We have a great discussion in this episode, covering a wide range of topics including Danny's background and experience, what led him to become an activist, his interest in climate change and how that interest has manifested over the years. In addition, we touch on how his views on the problem have evolved and also where he's spending his portfolio of time today. Enjoy the show! You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Today's guest is Danny Kennedy, CEO of New Energy Nexus.

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

In today’s episode, we cover:

How Oakland, CA has become the clean tech capital of the Bay Area
Danny’s work as an activist and entrepreneur to address climate change
How addressing climate change requires a war effort
How renewable energy presents not only a climate opportunity but also a much-needed employment opportunity
How Danny got into climate work and his underlying motivation
Danny’s journey into solar and founding his first startup
How the problem of climate change has evolved since Danny began his work
How clean tech and U.S. leadership in the movement represents a huge economic opportunity
How grassroots entrepreneurship is making up for an absence of government action
What government leadership to address climate change would need to look like
How the government-command of industry priorities to respond to COVID-19 is emblematic for what is required to address climate change
What the viable renewable energy mix for the future looks like
How Danny would address the main contributing sectors to GHG emissions
How effort needs to be focused on Africa and Asia, which will be the long-term contributors to carbon
How financial and software engineering are ripe areas of innovation
What is New Energy Nexus (NEN) and its mission
How NEN’s Clean Energy Fund invested in Tesla and other clean tech companies
How the “puck” of opportunity and innovation is headed to Asia
NEN’s clean energy accelerator in Indonesia
How Danny thought about incorporating NEN as a non-profit vs. for-profit model
Danny’s role in co-founding Oakland-based incubator, Powerhouse

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

New Energy Nexus: https://www.newenergynexus.com/about/
California Carbon-Free By 2045 Goal: clean-energy.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/business/energy-environment/california-clean-energy.html
kWh Analytics: https://www.kwhanalytics.com/
California Clean Energy Fund: http://www.calcef.org/
Bridge Lux: https://www.bridgelux.com/
Powerhouse: https://www.powerhouse.fund/

Get connected with MCJ:

Cody Simms X / LinkedIn
MCJ Podcast / Collective / YouTube

This episode currently has no reviews.

Submit Review

This episode could use a review!

This episode could use a review! Have anything to say about it? Share your thoughts using the button below.

Submit Review