American Chemical Society’s Chemical and Engineering News magazine this month includes an article entitled, “Reviving Cold Fusion.” written by Steven K. Ritter. The brief introduction reads, “After 20-plus years of outcast status, unconventional heat-producing nuclear reactions still seem plausible”. The ACS does not permit its publications to be published for free online and E-Cat World has followed copyright restrictions by providing only selected excerpts. Nonetheless, it is of great interest that a serious publication is prepared to discuss Cold Fusion.
Defkalion Green Technologies have published photographs or progress on their recent lab testing and also of the production facilities that are presently under construction in Xanthi, Greece. The photographs can be viewed on a pdf file on the following link: http://www.defkalion-energy.com/files/2012-05_StatusPicturesFinal.pdf
Several of the images show screen shots of data from measuring equipment in their labs, and the more informed observers may be able to interpret them. There seems to be plenty of activity in the new spacious production facilities, although there is clearly much work still to be completed.
At the recent “Atom Unexplored” conference in Torino Italy, Dr. Peter Hagelstein of MIT gave a presentation about his work in the field of low energy nuclear reaction research (LENR). He concentrated his presentation on the work of his colleague Dr. Mitchell Swartz who is responsible for inventing a palladium-based device he names a NANOR. When an electric current is passed through the palladium, excess energy in the form of heat is produced which, according to Hagelstein, is over 14 times the input energy.
Sidney Kimmel's "Death at a Funeral"
Billionaire businessman Sidney Kimmel’s $5.5 million investment into LENR research was inspired by the TV programme 60 Minutes in 2009 in which Rob Duncan investigated “cold fusion”. His brief was to find out whether or not there was any substance to the claims that cold fusion could, after all, hold the key to future cheap and clean energy resources. Duncan, vice chancellor of research at Missouri University and an expert in measuring energy, admitted to being sceptical prior to the making of the program but was surprised by what his investigation revealed. He travelled to Israel to investigate the work of a company called Energetics Technologies and was given access to Energetics’ cold fusion laboratory.
The seminar on the progress of research into low energy nuclear reactions (or LENR) scheduled for Thursday, April 26th, 2012 at La Sapienza University of Rome was cancelled at the last moment by the Directorate of the Department Physics for no obvious reason. This move has angered those eagerly looking forward to the seminar and has led to accusations that the same old prejudices are still blocking progress into LENR research.
Critics are citing the age-old rift within the academic world between those who are keen to investigate the series of anomalies (such as “cold fusion”) and those who deny any validity to anything that contrasts with the existing accepted theories. Anything that cannot yet be explained by the known laws of physics is treated with disdain.
Whilst looking back on the story of Andrea Rossi and his E-Cat project, I came across an interesting article by Hank Mills of Pure Energy Systems News. Mills describes the sacrifices that Rossi has made to make his E-Cat a reality.
Mills claims that “Andrea Rossi sold his stake in Leonardo Technologies Incorporated (not to be confused with his personal company, Leonardo Corporation) and other personal assets to raise the money needed to develop the E-Cat technology. Along with the funding he expected to receive from Defkalion Green Technologies Inc. (a company he is no longer associated with), he expected to have enough funding to last through the launch of the one megawatt plant. However, due to Defkalion’s breach of contract, and inability to make a scheduled payment, an additional source of funding was needed.”
An interesting article on E-Cat World has highlighted the growing acceptance of LENR. Francesco Piantelli’s recent presentation of his data from nickel hydrogen LENR experiments seems to be another confirmation that, when heated to a certain temperature and under certain other conditions, excess energy can be obtained by combining nickel and hydrogen. At least four companies: Leonardo, Defkalion, Brillouin and Nichenergy have now been formed to investigate this phenomenon and make it commercially viable.
E-Cat World has kindly drawn attention to an email sent out by Defkalion Green Technologies to “interested parties.” DGT claim that the stated interest from the intended recipient is one of over 1,000 “entities” from more than seventy countries. E-Cat World have highlighted the key points in the letter as the statement that DGT plans to have a full working prototype ready by July 2012 and that one license per country will be available to potential licensees. 40.5 million Euros is the license fee for a factory capable of producing 300,000 Hyperion units annually.
In an attempt to break the current stalemate, E-Cat World has reacted to a recent comment by Rossi in response to a reader’s query regarding news, or lack of, on the progress of the E-Catalyzer project.
His reply, published on E-Cat World reads:
Dear Mark Saker:
You are right: very much is going on behind the scenes, because in this matter is best first do things, then talk of them. We will give due information of all the facts we will have made, while during the making of them we prefer to work in silence, to work better.
The 1 MW plant is for military purpose, it cannot be seen, but when we will have (soon) a plant in operation that will be visitable, People like you, who have helped us, will be invited to visit it. Very important things are in the making, but, again, I prefer making before talking.
Warm Regards,
A.R.
With first Defkalion, and later Andrea Rossi, having thrown their toys out of the pram, there has been a dearth of news on either project. Having followed every twist and turn in recent months, it is something of a setback to find the trickle of news cut off completely. Whether this is in the interest of either Defkalion or Rossi is open to question but you can sympathise with their points of view. Neither is under any obligation to feed the public with a step-by-step account as they (hopefully) work towards a new development in the provision of cheap and efficient energy.
