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| Lonnie Johnson, inventor of the Super Soaker water gun, has introduced JTEC, a new technology that generates electrical energy from heat. |
You know him as the man who revolutionized backyard summers. Lonnie Johnson, the 76-year-old Atlanta-based inventor of the iconic Super Soaker water gun, is a folk hero of fun. With over 140 patents and a 2022 induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, his legacy is already cemented. But in his latest act, Johnson isn’t targeting water fights—he’s taking aim at the global energy crisis.
The former NASA and Air Force engineer is channeling his formidable inventive prowess into a project that could transform how we generate electricity. The goal? To capture the massive amounts of heat that industry simply throws away.
The JTEC: A Simple Machine with a Powerful Promise
At the heart of this effort is the Johnson Thermo-Electrochemical Converter, or JTEC. Unlike complex turbines or generators, the JTEC operates with minimal moving parts. Its principle is elegant: it uses hydrogen gas, circulating in a closed loop, to generate electricity from relatively low-grade heat.
Here’s how it works in simple terms: The system is heated on one side to a temperature as low as 93 °C (about 200 °F). This heat increases the pressure of hydrogen on that side, forcing the charged particles (ions) through an ultra-thin membrane to the cooler, low-pressure side. This movement of charge creates an electrical current. Because the hydrogen isn’t burned or consumed, the cycle simply repeats—a quiet, closed-loop engine.
The potential applications are vast. This technology could be deployed to capture industrial waste heat from factories and power plants, tap into geothermal energy, or even utilize heat from abandoned oil and gas boreholes.
"The amount of energy wasted in industry is massive—up to 50% is lost as unused heat," Johnson explains. "That's the kind of untapped potential we're going after."
From Lab to Reality: The 2026 Commercial Launch
This isn't just a laboratory experiment. The startup commercializing JTEC has already secured $30 million in funding and significantly expanded its engineering team. The first commercial system is scheduled for installation in 2026 at a major energy provider in the southeastern United States, though the partner's name remains under wraps.
The journey to this point has been a meticulous one. In a detailed report by The Seattle Times, Johnson offered a tour of his Atlanta lab, describing his philosophy of invention as "the search for good problems."
For Johnson, JTEC is part of a dual quest. He is simultaneously developing a solid-state battery technology, viewing the two projects as being in a kind of "horse race" to see which can make a transformative impact on energy first.
Skepticism and the Path Forward
As with any ambitious new technology, questions remain. On forums like Reddit, reactions to JTEC are a mix of fascination and skepticism. Enthusiasts are excited by the pedigree of the inventor and the elegant concept. Critics, however, point to a significant gap: a lack of published, concrete data on the system's real-world efficiency, exact costs, and how it stacks up against existing thermal conversion technologies like Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) systems.
This skepticism is healthy and underscores a key challenge Johnson’s team acknowledges: production costs must come down for the technology to scale competitively.
The report makes clear this is a serious, well-funded endeavor moving toward a tangible milestone. Yet, whether JTEC can truly be a game-changer for clean energy generation and industrial efficiency will only become clear once that first commercial system in 2026 begins operating and independent performance data becomes available.
One thing is certain: Lonnie Johnson, the man who taught us the joy of a perfectly aimed stream of water, is now pouring his genius into one of society's most pressing problems. The world will be watching to see if his latest invention makes a splash as big as his first.