I’ve been following a few of the outlandish energy schemes out there for a few years now, largely because it’s evident that fossil fuel sources are beginning to show diminishing returns despite more extraction effort, and what remains in large quantities is unattractive, dirty stuff like coal and tar sands. Although I remain skeptical, the fact that we came up with some spectacular, unprecedented new sources of energy only recently, such as nuclear power, suggests that we could potentially do so again.
Unfortunately, for the past couple of decades since the failure to replicate the Fleischmann-Pons cold fusion results, it’s been a series of disappointments, and nobody has come out with a working product. The lure of cold fusion was that it could conceivably produce enormous amounts of power without the kind of danger posed by conventional nuclear reactions, which require many layers of protection to prevent meltdowns and radiation leaks, and can be used to produce atomic bombs.
Now, it seems that an Italian fellow from Bologna named Andrea Rossi has built a working contraption, and has apparently sold a number of them. He says it’s not actually fusion, but rather a “low energy nuclear reaction” between nickel and hydrogen, helped along by some proprietary catalyst, that produces the energy, which is released as heat.
Mr. Rossi has teamed up with some Swedish physicists to sell the device, and plans to sell home heating units within a year or so. He claims that he intends to manufacture millions of them, and will keep the price low to ensure that copycats (which are already emerging) cannot compete with him. Apparently, he has already sold a scaled-up version to the US Navy:
A physicist in Italy claims to have demonstrated a new type of power plant that provides safe, cheap and virtually unlimited nuclear power to the world, without fossil fuels or radiation concerns.
The only hitch: Scientists say the method — cold fusion — is patently impossible. They say it defies the laws of physics.
Andrea Rossi doesn’t seem to care. He told FoxNews.com that his new device takes in nickel and hydrogen and fuses them in a low-grade nuclear reaction that essentially spits out sheer power, validating the strange science.[...]
Sterling Allan, CEO of the alternative energy news agency Pure Energy Systems, told FoxNews.com he attended Rossi’s demonstration and the E-Cat is self sustaining.
“What Rossi demonstrated was 470 kilowatts of continuous output in self-sustain mode — meaning the output was enough to keep the thing running on its own,” he told FoxNews.com.
Allan hinted on his blog that an unnamed “customer” of Rossi’s device is a military organization that starts with an N. Rossi said this customer measured and verified the test — and told FoxNews.com that Paul Swanson with the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems unit (SPAWAR) can vouch for the demonstration.
FoxNews.com spoke with a man at SPAWAR who identified himself as Swanson, and who said only that he was “not in a position to talk to the press.” Several other sources within the Navy and the Pentagoneither declined to comment or did not return messages.
This is one of those things where I really hope it’s true, but I’ll believe it when I see one working.
Whether this new source of energy pans out or not, it’s always encouraging to know that there are still men out there putting their life’s work into projects that could benefit all of mankind. For all the trashing men in general get from feminists, when it comes down to it humanity always pins its hopes on its men and puts its faith in them.
