Over the years, I've learned that the news about some great new discovery in the energy field is never something to get excited about. It takes five, ten, and even more years to go from breakthrough news in the lab to the marketplace. Even something like compact fluorescent light bulbs took about 20 years to go from being available to being available at the corner store.
On top of that, news about esoteric energy concepts - cold fusion or low energy nuclear reaction, water engines, zero point fluctuation, experiments with some of Tesla's more outré ideas - is even more suspect. It is the stuff of legend and laughter. However, in the past few years, there have been more and more of these ideas that may, just may have some validity. Again, as with any new breakthrough, check the information available but don't hold your breath.
Hydrinos
A week or so ago I saw that Blacklight Power (http://www.blacklightpower.com/) had released a series of validation reports on their "electrochemical cell which generates electricity directly from water vapor" using a "new form" of hydrogen called hydrino :
http://inhabitat.com/...
I've been aware of Blacklight Power since reading a long article about them and their founder, Dr Randell L Mills, in the Village Voice (http://www.villagevoice.com/...) back in 1999. Mills has good credentials, with a BA in Chemistry, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Franklin & Marshall College (1982), an MD from Harvard Medical School (1986) and a year of graduate work in electrical engineering at MIT. Blacklight Power has been working on this technology since 1991 and has received about $60 million in venture capital to develop it.
Their validation reports are available here:
http://www.blacklightpower.com/...
Mills may be the most rigorous of the esoteric energy researchers and has a whole new theory of physics and cosmology on which he bases his work. The company also sells 3D molecular modeling software (http://www.blacklightpower.com/...).
Magnets
Steorn (http://www.steorn.com) is another company which is working on electromagnetic motors, induction heating, and hybrid passive magnetic bearings, all from what they are calling their Orbo technology. Based in Ireland, they have been in the news recently, claiming that at least two multinationals are bidding to include their induction heating technology, Hephaheat, in commercial and consumer products:
http://truthfall.com/...
Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) or Cold Fusion
What was once called cold fusion and is now named low energy nuclear reactions (LENR) is also getting some notice. Wired UK (http://www.wired.co.uk/...) reports that there was a "rock concert feel" at the 17th Conference on Cold Fusion (http://www.iccf17.org) in August in South Korea.
Andrea Rossi's E-Cat (http://ecat.com) is reportedly getting ready to ship product this year and done at least one commercial installation. Rossi's former partners, Defkalion (http://www.defkalion-energy.com) are planning factories and finalizing their prototypes.
Perhaps the most notable contribution [at the conference] was Francesco Celani's live demonstration of an apparently working cold fusion device. Unlike Rossi, Celani does not claim to have a secret catalyst, just a nickel wire loaded with hydrogen which produces more heat than is supplied to it. The 62 watts output from 48 watts input isn't going to boil a kettle, but it was a very open demonstration, and unlike Rossi, Celani has plenty of theoretical physics to support it.
Celani repeated the demonstration as part of an event in the US sponsored by National Instruments with positive results. UK-based start-up Kresenn says it has been licensed to develop Celani's technology commercially, with a particular focus on green energy for data centres.
A few weeks ago I was surprised to get a notice of this entry in the Cleantech Professional Webinar Series:
Our first class Next Generation Energy - LENR/Cold Fusion/"Free Energy", Fact vs Fiction will be led by Dr. Edward Beardsworth on Thursday September 20, 2012 at 10:00 AM PST. This class will be survey in the exciting world of next generation energy technologies. We will provide a detailed survey of innovations that range from those that are near commercialization within the decade to those that will remain largely fiction. A description of what works and why, as well as what doesn’t. More
Dr. Edward Beardsworth – As a strategic advisor, Dr. Beardsworth has been supporting corporate and investor clients, helping them to source widely and choose wisely among new technology opportunities. He possesses a deep, nuanced understanding of the complex energy and cleantech industry gained over his 30+ year career – setting him apart from relative newcomers to the industry. After earning a PhD in physics in 1972 from Rutgers University, he was in the group at Brookhaven National Lab that undertook interdisciplinary analyses of energy systems during the first energy crisis of the 1970s. Subsequently, he served in positions at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), which has given him an insider's view of power systems and the utility industry. Dr. Beardsworth speaks the language of both technologists and investors, providing an important bridge between these two stakeholder groups.
Besides being Cleantech.org's Research Director, he's been Associate Director at Jane Capital Partners LLC, advisor to Nth Power, Garage Technology Ventures, and a consultant to the Cleantech Group. He previously managed the Hub Lab, a stealth R&D program funding revolutionary energy technologies, and managed the UFTO program, providing technology scouting to 30 of the top utility R&D and corporate venture arms.
http://www.eventbrite.com/...
The price for the webinar is $99. It was interesting to see that the "Cleantech" professionals are beginning to notice the more esoteric energy fields. If these technologies demonstrate their viability, there is going to be a lot more of this. Again, expand your horizons but don't hold your breath.
Water Engines
The idea of an engine that runs only on water has been a fairy tale of the Industrial Age.
David Mamet even wrote a play and movie about it, "The Water Engine" (http://www.imdb.com/...). Over the summer in Pakistan, the water engine has become a political issue when Agha Waqar Ahmad, an engineer, claimed to have converted his car to run on water. Father of the Islamic bomb, Dr AQ Khan has evidently endorsed the idea and, as of a July report, a sub-committee of the government has committed to supporting the project.
More at
http://pesn.com/...
http://globalvoicesonline.org/...
None of these ideas may pan out but some of the research involved could be useful. Remember, it takes years to go from a lab success to the marketplace and, historically, the transition from one energy regimen, wood to coal, coal to oil, fossil fuels to whatever is next, takes about 50 years. See the excellent documentary "Switch" (http://www.switchenergyproject.com) to get some idea of the scale of the task that confronts us.
I check in with http://www.peswiki.com/... about twice a month to see what is going on in the world of esoteric and free energy studies. Lots of conspiracy theories and strange ideas but somethings I want to know about too almost every time I visit.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.