The Eternium philosophy is clear: eliminate combustion of hydrocarbons and embrace stewardship of the environment with intentional use of reused or reusable materials.
This week, we were able to connect with Jared Semik, CEO and Founder of Eternium Aerospace, a company focused on achieving transcontinental electric flight. Eternium is on the fringe of the future, and offers the pieces needed to build a new frontier of air travel. Let’s dive a bit deeper with Jared.
Tell us a little bit about you, your background, and your current role:
Throughout my career I’ve been a thought leader in innovation producing several proprietary novel innovations and 3 patented technologies. The most notable is the Eternium Superconductive electric motor, which is the keystone technology to the power and propulsion system of the Archangel multi-role long range electric aircraft being developed by Eternium. Currently I am the head of Eternium Corporation and its two divisions; Eternium Hydrogen (development of liquid hydrogen production technology and LH2 production) and Eternium Aerospace (development and production of the Archangel Electric Aircraft). I am also the primary aircraft, propulsions and power system architect and designer. Eternium was built on 7 years of my professional research into what technologies needed to be improved and synergistically woven into an aircraft system to achieve long range air travel without hydrocarbon fuel.
I’m an 8 year veteran of the Marine Corps (5 years) and Army (3 years) with a long professional history in aviation as an aircraft technician, aircrew, and research and development engineer in both civil and military roles. I’m equal parts scientific and spiritual, a lifelong adventurer, outdoorsman, both extreme and conventional sports athlete, artist, inventor, and writer.
What is a fun fact about you?
I’m more at peace during potentially life threatening activities like skydiving, mountaineering or motorcycle riding than I am in any other activity, save maybe meditation.
Why do you think climate change and sustainability is such an important topic today?
There are simply far too many humans on the planet currently to sustain our level of wastefulness and resultant pollution. Sustainability has always been on my mind from a very early age, I’ve always admired the ability of indigenous people to waste very little from what they collect from the environment. It comes from a circular philosophy of honoring one’s environment; it comes as a result of understanding that we hold an intrinsic part in its balance and health. In knowing this, we can honor our part in its caretaking and natures resultant care of us as denizens of its system. Anyone that spends any time in nature will tell you how dependent we are on the planet.
The Eternium philosophy goes well beyond simply eliminating combustion of hydrocarbons; we embrace full stewardship of the environment with our recycling practices and intentional use of reused or reusable materials; we improve our impact on people economically, which is a large contributing driver of individuals inability to live more sustainably (it simply costs too much). Our impact can’t be completely eliminated but it can be reduced in very impactful ways.
As much as our impact will increasingly shape our environment so will the environment increasingly shape humanity. Currently, we have a growing understanding of this fact and we have a choice whether we wish nature to force our hand through suffering or if we will willingly evolve our sensibilities to step into our place as a balanced stewards of our home.
What do you envision your industry looking like 10 years from now?
The aerospace industry is very slow on the uptake of technological advancement, believe it or not. We are seeing an explosion of aircraft electrification technologies and design ideas but it will be some time before we see the first air taxis and long range aircraft take service due to the lengthy certification process and risk averse industry. More specifically, the fact that very few organizations are focusing on the infrastructure, in parallel, will dictate the cost structure moving forward. There is whisper of these philosophies amongst players but no real serious, concerted efforts to address it.
We will see many companies developing eVTOL aircrafts. Leaders will emerge and others will fall, but if costs are not controlled, I doubt the “air taxi” concept will be economically viable to anyone but the most wealthy. Only time will tell. We have a long way to go though. As for hydrogen production we are slowly inching forward; in ten years time, hopefully, we will have decentralized energy production. As the methods of production become reproducible by more organizations, this will potentially pave the way for the emerging technologies to step into the light.
What can the average person do to make a difference?
Begin living a less wasteful lifestyle. Stop accumulating so many consumer goods. Start investing in your own energy production and storage. Learn how to repair instead of replace. Grow a bigger portion of your food. Recycle and reuse. Shorten your commute. Reduce the size of your vehicles. Stop having more than two or three children. Actively teach your children not to be wasteful through example. Spend time in nature and learn how to pack in and pack out your resources. Volunteer for environmental stewardship projects. Pick up trash. Live a fit lifestyle (exercise and eat healthy, it reduces your intake). Humble yourself (this leads to respecting things other than yourself – such as nature, animals, other humans, etc.). Get educated.
The list goes on. If we all made small, concerted reductions and improvements, the impact would be immense.
Green.Org is a television show, podcast, social media, and news platform, hosted by Dylan Welch, that highlights climate change scientists, renewable energy experts, and clean tech entrepreneurs by giving them a voice in the mainstream media. The Green podcast highlights leading experts in cleantech, sustainability, media, finance, and real estate. Tune in and subscribe to the podcast on Apple or Spotify to listen to interviews with leading cleantech and sustainable experts. If you are interested in being featured on Green, click HERE.
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