John O'Donnell innovates new clean-energy technologies, bringing them from the laboratory to large-scale industrial operations in order to rapidly green the dirtiest industrial processes.

Why you should listen

Engineer John O'Donnell builds green energy technology to ensure that future generations live in a world where access to abundant power is recognized as a basic human right. He and his peers seek to develop and deploy rapidly scalable systems that could profitably decarbonize the world's most stubbornly carbon-dependent sectors.

A leader in the development of industrial-scale heat sources run from renewable electricity, O'Donnell is the founder of heat battery startup Rondo and cofounder of GlassPoint Solar, which powers more than half of all solar industrial heat applications currently in operation. Previously, as lead engineer for Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, he worked on the front lines of fusion development.

John O'Donnell’s TED talk