Clean Energy Spotlight: Deborah “Dej” Knuckey

Our latest #CleanEnergySpotlight has been to Antarctica and back in her travels across the energy industry. But first, do you know someone who deserves recognition for their contributions to clean power? Nominate them in the comments.

Deborah (Dej) Knuckey is this week’s #cleanenergyspotlight, and she’s worn many hats across her career in energy. Most recently, she wore a winter beanie on a trip to Antarctica with the 2041 Foundation ClimateForce Expedition. The continent actually has a mountain, Knuckey Peaks, named after her father, who was an Australian explorer and surveyor.

Dej’s passion for clean energy and climate action has taken her across the globe. She’s been a financial and energy journalist in Australia, where she grew up. She’s been a consultant in McKinsey & Company’s energy practice, and a leader at marketing agencies Ketchum and Kiterocket and at renewable tech company Enphase Energy.

Dej first entered clean energy by “renovating homes using green building techniques,” she told CE4AEF. She “went back for a masters in sustainable design” and “got hooked on clean energy systems.”

Now, she’s chief marketing officer and co-founder of Enzinc, a company that’s building better batteries with zinc instead of lithium. “Zinc batteries go where lithium-ion cannot,” the company has said, working across a wider temperature range with no fire risk. They are easily recyclable, and three-times as powerful as and longer-lasting than lead acid batteries. And to make it happen, Enzinc received grants from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E and the California Energy Commission.

In her role as marketing lead, Dej has helped Enzinc build a go-to-market strategy.

Across her energy career, Dej has pushed climate-friendly energy and #climatetech into the mainstream, and technologies like solar have continued to grow and grow. (Another reason to remember why President Biden was right to exempt panels from the Commerce Department's on-going tariff inquiry – lots of jobs depend on solar!)

“I've loved working at companies that have started with an idea, grown into a flourishing business, employed hundreds of people, and given the whole industry new tools or products to accelerate the energy transition,” she told CE4AEF.

“Every time a clean energy system gets installed, a community gets cleaner air.”

Make sure to say, "thank you and congrats" to Deborah (Dej) Knuckey, our latest #cleanenergyspotlight.