As you know, I started a petition to attempt to get the Department of Energy (DOE) to investigate Cold Fusion, better known as LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reaction). I wrote:
“Few people realize the apparent huge strides that have been made in LENR (Cold Fusion) device development. (Read about it here and here.) While this has gone on the DOE has sat by doing nothing. Sometimes big bureaucracies just can’t fully figure out the key things that they should be working on. It’s a case of not seeing the forest because of all the trees. While the DOE spends billions regulating and sponsoring work related to fission reactors, oil, natural gas, wind, solar, and so on – they have neglected to even acquire a single LENR device and test it. And they have not sponsored any research for others to do this either.”
So the good news is that a few days ago the DOE, through their ARPA-E programs, is now seriously considering providing funding to Dr. George Miley for a device he claims is based on LENR. George Miley is a well respected professor who has done nuclear fusion research, and he ran the University of Illinois Fusion Lab.
This is would be a good start by the DOE, but they should do much more. They could contact all of the companies that claim to have LENR devices working and ask if they can test them. It would not be that hard. You measure the electrical input power with meters, and then you measure the net thermal energy output. Then you weigh the reactor to see if there was a weight change that could suggest a nuclear reaction took place (e-mc2 tells us that mass will be lost). And finally, you do a chemical analysis of the input fuel and the left over materials after the thermal energy production stops. If transmutation of one material into another took place, like nickel turning into copper, this should be evaluated for its implications.
The DOE spends hundreds of millions of dollars on solar cell companies, and the market potential of these devices is shaky Why can’t the DOE spend a couple of million dollars testing claimed LENR devices and then let the world know what is going on? This is potentially save the planet kind of stuff. Jeez, I wish they would get on it.
Or even better, if cold fusion is in fact real, why don’t the professors who are operating it do a public demonstration? They could start on their own university campuses, then move to more venues with larger audiences. As you made clear, the tests to see if this is a meaningful reaction or just smoke and mirrors are simple. Simple enough to be performed in front of a live audience, probably.
Invite skeptics to bring their own instruments, raw materials, and recording devices to measure the alleged energy output. It would probably take a few hours. Then things can be settled; is this just some bored physics professor’s idea of a practical joke? Or is it a real live reaction?
Sounds like fun. I’ll bring some voltmeters.
It’s more than just NASA and DOE. There are several which have been publicly displayed and the experiments have now been replicated by many many experiments. Look up Widom-Larsen. Mitsubishi and Toyota, along with the University of Osaka, have all shown and replicated nuclear transmutations happening in LENR. It’s been ignored because it was improperly called junk science… one of the main detractors an MIT prof was caught lying about it to the press in fact. SLI hosts research, University of Missouri, NASA, Shell, many others.
There are replication efforts going on with Celani wires … the Pons-Fleischmann memorial project.
The crack scientists were the ones who said nothing real was happening because the theory was implausible(and actually wrong), but the effect is very real..
Science is supposed to work the other way around based on evidence though…
I am hopeful that in 2013 this will all change.
You mention an MIT prof…lying to the press….well, here is the story and evidence:
MIT Alleges Fraud Against Pons and Fleischmann in 1989
which includes an audio recording from the reporter’s interview that we have obtained and preserved.
Steven B. Krivit
Publisher and Senior Editor, New Energy Times
Editor-in-Chief, 2011 Wiley Nuclear Energy Encyclopedia
Cold Fusion failed once before. You can’t blame them for being cautious the second time around.
They’ll get around to it eventually … and if they don’t prove/disprove LENR, somebody else will.
Actually, it may be that Fleischmann and Pons will be vindicated. So if that is true, Cold Fusion never really failed once, it just had a slow, skeptical period.
The DOE was started to help the US with energy security. They spend $24 billion per year. The potential of LENR to quickly alter the US and world’s energy and pollution situation is so profound that they should not wait any longer to investigate, in my opinion. About .05% of their budget would be enough to see if LENR is real.
I’m not saying I agree with the hesitation. Just that I kind of understand it.
Some more news today about LENR, read here what NASA scientist Joseph Zawodny says:
http://www.gizmag.com/nasa-lenr-nuclear-reactor/26309/
That’s a pretty good summary article.
New Energy Times has the story on this latest outreach from NASA. We produce original online content specializing in LENR. We’ve been in direct contact with Zawodny and Bushnell and have obtained and published NASA documents on LENR through FOIA requests.
NASA’s LENR Article “Nuclear Reactor in Your Basement”
Steven B. Krivit
Publisher and Senior Editor, New Energy Times
Editor-in-Chief, 2011 Wiley Nuclear Energy Encyclopedia