They dropped out of college to build a machine that turns water into electricity, and Jason Herring says people have offered him money just to shelve it.
Jason Herring dropped out of university at nineteen with a JanSport backpack, $200, and a leather jacket, and moved to London before eventually building Syzygy Pacific Engineer into a company running a hundred projects at a time. Now he runs Vivify, a hydrogen-based energy startup that claims it can turn water (salt, dirty, or otherwise) into usable power at a fraction of grid prices. The company has met with government agencies, including the Department of War, about deploying containerized units in the field.
Ivan gets a rare tour inside Vivify's lab, joined by Wes Persall (formerly of Blue Origin), Zac DelVecchio, and Chief Science Engineer Buddy Paul (whose résumé includes NASA and the THAAD missile program) to talk about the tech, the secrecy, and what it actually takes to keep a room full of scientists focused on one thing.
We cover:
Jason Herring dropping out of college at nineteen with $200 and a backpack
Turning water, salt, dirty, or otherwise, into usable electricity
Why they think this could run as cheap as five cents a kilowatt
Meeting with the Department of War about a deployable containerized unit
Turning down money from people who wanted the tech shelved
Why nothing about this technology has ever been emailed
"The building is heavily secured, nothing's on server"
Buddy Paul's résumé: NASA, Lockheed Martin, and the THAAD missile program
What happens to the hydrogen byproduct if you actually inhale it
Wes Persall, formerly of Blue Origin, on validating the system in the open
Whether this counts as clean energy for the AI data center boom
Playing referee to "a whole bunch of mad scientists"
The number that makes petroleum companies nervous
Getting hate and trolls for a claim this big
The most important person Jason's ever met (hint: Air Force One)
Why one version of the unit is nicknamed "the flying pig"
RESOURCES & LINKS:
https://vivify-technology.com/
MORE OF JASON HERRING:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamjasonherring
MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:
Website: https://www.themargin.tv
Spotify:
Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com
MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:
Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob
Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado
MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt
Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt
Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended
Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki
Timestamps:
00:00 - A tour inside Vivify's "top secret" energy lab.
00:10 - The mission: taking the grid out of the equation.
00:35 - Meeting with the Department of War about a deployable unit.
02:41 - Even AI doesn't believe what they're building.
03:45 - Could this really run at five cents a kilowatt?
04:32 - Have petroleum companies tried to buy them off?
05:20 - Why nothing about this tech has ever been emailed.
10:48 - Wes Persall (ex-Blue Origin) validates everything in the open.
12:05 - Refusing to be "owned" by outside investors.
13:04 - What if regulators call this too dangerous?
17:16 - Zac DelVecchio demos the load bank.
20:14 - "Holy shit, the world has changed forever."
20:29 - The trolls, the hate, and the noise that comes with it.
22:32 - Buddy Paul's origin story: a basement in Baltimore.
24:44 - Bipartisan energy in an AI-data-center world.
27:50 - Is the hydrogen byproduct safe to breathe?
31:48 - How does this team stay this sharp?
36:13 - Jason's origin story: $200, a backpack, London.
41:00 - Fielding buyout offers.
45:09 - Playing babysitter to "a whole bunch of mad scientists."
46:48 - The most important person Jason's ever met.
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