Our planet is at the precipice of an energy crisis.
Our planet is not meeting our current energy needs – ask anyone living in Dallas during the winter of 2021, or experiencing California’s ongoing rolling blackouts. More extreme weather from climate change brings higher energy demands – for both heat and air conditioning. When our society is already teetering on the edge of what we can handle because of our increasing reliance on computers, and cell phones, and cars… it doesn’t take much extra demand to completely pull the cord on us.
We need a new source of clean, sustainable energy to save the planet.
The US has 4.7% of the population and consumes 21% of the world’s energy. We use 20% of the oil consumed in the world. Developing countries will catch up to the energy consumption of the U.S. as they get cars and cell phones and modern homes. In 1990 China had 22% of the population and consumed 9.9% of the world’s energy. In 2019 that number jumped to 19.9% of the population and 30.8% of the energy consumption.
What happens when everyone wants to use their fair share of the world’s energy?
Introducing the JTEC
(Thermo-Electrochemical Converter)
The JTEC is an innovative device that uses electrochemical transformations to convert a heat differential into usable electricity.
Over twenty years ago Dr. Lonnie Johnson invented the SuperSoaker, one of the world’s best-selling toys, and then invested his profits into a world-class laboratory in the heart of Atlanta dedicated to solving the world’s energy problem through the creation of a new source of energy.
Twenty years ago, he patented the idea for the Johnson Thermo-Electrochemical Converter (JTEC), a device that turns waste heat into useable electricity at an unprecedented and unheard of efficiency. His idea worked on the white board- all of the chemistry and physics and equations bore him out, but the materials to make it feasible were not yet available. With the huge advances in Material Science in the last decade, his bold idea is now a reality.
In 2020, Dr. Johnson put together a team of chemists, material scientists and engineers to bring his idea to fruition, and JTEC Energy was formed as a new company.
“It's like discovering a new continent. You don't know what's there, but you sure want to explore it to find out. It has a darn good chance of being the best thing ever invented on Earth.”
–Dr. Paul Werbos, former Program Director of the National Science Foundation
Dr. Lonnie Johnson explains in his TED Talk what motivated him to invent the JTEC, how it works, and the impact he thinks this device can have on the world.