Left to right, Grace, Levi, Pete, Kristin, Josh and Sydney Johnson. Credit: courtesy of Pete Johnson
What focuses his energy, though, is his family — wife Kristin, daughter Sydney, 16; daughter Grace, 14; son Josh, 10; son Levi, 8.
Johnson is exploring and developing technologies to tap a new source of energy that is powerful, vast, and clean. It’s known as geologic hydrogen. Studies suggest that the earth produces significant amounts of hydrogen through natural geochemical processes and that it may be accumulating in formations below the surface. If sufficiently sized reservoirs can be found, geologic hydrogen could help fuel the U.S. economy for centuries to come while reducing emissions and carbon footprints.
Johnson grew up in The Avenues neighborhood of Salt Lake during the eighties. “I was born the fifth of six sons and had an unbelievably fun, Huck Finn-type of childhood exploring the foothills by foot and bike with my brothers,” he says. “We also spent a lot of time skiing, boating and going to high school sports games for my older brothers.”
At East High School, Pete was inspired by several teachers and classes, including AP Biology and AP Calculus. “I think the most inspiring person for me at East was Keeko Georgelas, the head coach who revitalized the school’s football program and took it from a perennial doormat to one of the top programs in the state. Keeko put into our heads that we could do great things.” Pete took those words to heart, channeling that motivation as he led the East High football team to a state championship in 1997, his senior year. It was the first championship at East since 1974.
Awarded a four-year presidential scholarship, Johnson enrolled at the University of Utah for Fall semester 1997 intending to be an environmental or civil engineering major. “I was interested in biology and math and wanted to be in the environmental remediation and hydrology world, in part thinking that it would give me lots of opportunities to work outside.”
Johnson completed the prerequisite courses before serving a two-year church mission. When he returned, in 2000, he struggled to find passion for the course work. He persisted and took a few more civil engineering classes but wasn’t intrigued with the subject matter.
“I started thinking about what else I could do and was in the middle of a general physics course taught by Sid Rudolph who was just a crazy man and unbelievably passionate about physics,” says Johnson. “I decided to give it a try and was pleasantly surprised with the curriculum and the way I was challenged by the science and the math.”
“I had tough, interesting courses in quantum physics, nuclear physics, electromagnetics and other areas from faculty [not only] Sid Rudolph, [but also] Clayton Williams, Mikhail Raikh and Rich Ingebretsen," says Johnson. "Rich was a longtime family friend who also taught me how to run rivers.” It was the cumulative effect of these courses, and perhaps hitting the rapids, that inspired Johnson to become an entrepreneur in the energy sector.
“My dad was in energy, and it was always something that I was interested in," says Johnson. "So, I applied to the mechanical engineering graduate programs at Stanford and MIT and was accepted into both programs."
Johnson chose Stanford and spent two years there, mostly doing biomechanical research where he found some fascinating topics in stem cell implantation into heart tissue. “At that point, it was time to propose a PhD project, but I struck out on two or three different ideas, being told by my advisor that these ideas sounded more like business plans than research projects. I kept trying to ‘science’-up the proposals but wasn’t getting it, and I realized, probably later than my advisor, that I was more interested in stepping out and pursuing things in Silicon Valley than I was in three-to-five more years in the lab. So, I finished with a master’s degree and never looked back.”
Modern day gold rush
The company name, Koloma, was inspired by the small town of Coloma, California, where gold ore was discovered in 1848 which led to the California Gold Rush that transformed the country and the entire economy. Johnson and company founders Tom Darrah, Paul Harraka and Scott McNally visited the site in 2021 to launch Koloma, Inc. Geologic hydrogen has also been referred to as gold hydrogen, so the team thought the name was appropriate. An appreciation for the history of exploration and the value of learning from the past is embedded in the company.
“The unique thing about Koloma is that we have 20 years of data advantage and a big head start in the field, and that data advantage has led to a large number of tools and techniques we can build and validate through our exploration work,” says Johnson.
Koloma has already developed the technology to identify the most promising regions for geologic hydrogen potential. The company continues to conduct geophysical studies and some preliminary drilling projects around the world. Johnson anticipates large-scale hydrogen production to begin by 2030 if they are successful in their exploration efforts.
As a new primary energy source, naturally occurring geologic hydrogen could be a powerful tool to help move towards lower carbon energy forms in the U.S. and around the world.
The Science
Geologic hydrogen is generated naturally in the Earth’s iron-rich mantel by an oxidation-reduction reaction known as serpentinization. Through this water-rock reaction, considerable quantities of hydrogen are continuously produced and stored in geological formations below the surface. In fact, geologic hydrogen can be produced with low-carbon intensity, resulting in a low-carbon footprint on par with electrolysis. In addition, the process does not require external water inputs or external energy inputs such as heat or electricity.
For these reasons, geologic hydrogen presents a highly efficient, low-cost and low-greenhouse-gas energy source.
Even with all that potential energy in development, Johnson’s internal energy source is rooted in Mountain View, California, near Stanford where he and his family reside.
“We’ve always got plenty going on,” says Johnson of his family which spends weekends at soccer games, hiking in the redwoods or hanging out on the Northern California coast.
He met his wife Kristin in September 2003, the first weekend he was in Palo Alto for graduate school. “Kristin had just taken a job with Pfizer in sales. I was smitten early on, but she was dating guys who didn’t have years of grad work in front of them and were already going places, so it took me about a year of building trust as a friend before she really started to see me as a viable option!”
“Once we started dating it was clear we had something great going on, and I think my mom would have killed me if I messed it up so I was careful,” says Johnson who proposed at sunrise on top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. They were married in October 2005 in Salt Lake City.
Pete Johnson’s advice to others is simple and, not surprisingly, family-centric: “Avoid thinking that being passionate about your work means you won’t be able to be a great spouse and parent. Find a way to make it all work.”
You can read a recent story in CNBC about Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos' backing Pete Johnson's Kolomo, Inc here.
“I am proud to be an Olympian,” says Tang. “Elite competition pushes the limits of humanity, our physical and mental capacity, our emotions and compassion for each other.” For Tang, pushing those limits has extended from the slopes to business, to family and, finally, to something else that makes this U alumnus extraordinary, his capacity to pay it forward.
Tang’s story of determination and persistence started in Taipei, Taiwan, where he was born in 1964. “I was the youngest, and the only son in a Taiwanese family, so the pressure for me to succeed was extremely high,” he says.
Tang and his wife, Penny, met on campus in the Olpin Union building. In the 1990s, their student organization reserved a gym in the HPER Complex. “She was playing badminton, and I was playing basketball. After 10 o’clock, when the HPER building closed, a few of us decided to go to the Union to play pool. We shared a table, and the rest is history,” says Tang.