We’ve been discussing quite a number of different systems and companies recently that could loosely be termed LENR (there are some quibbles about that label), and I want to look for a moment at the big picture here, and where things seem to be heading.
From where I sit, I get the sense that there is a gradually increasing amount of serious attention being paid to this field. As administrator of E-Cat World I watch a number of indicators regarding things like the volume of web traffic, the number and quality of comments, incoming links, and sources of traffic — and they seem to be moving overall in a positive direction. I have not noticed as much trolling or skepticism about LENR/CF/E-Cat lately, and I was pleased to see the recent Wired UK article about cold fusion moving ‘stealthily into the mainstream‘ provide a good overview of the current state of affairs in the LENR field, with the author David Hambling taking the field perfectly seriously.
Recent news and developments indicate that there is progress being made in the industry. I think the revelation that Cherokee Investment Partners are involved with Andrea Rossi, and funding his research has sparked some positive attention, and garnered some more credibility for his work. The visit of Cherokee CEO Tom Darden to China where he talked about ‘nickel reactors’ indicates there are some serious discussions taking place about industrializing the E-Cat. I think the Rossi/Cherokee partnership could be part of the reason why some of the other players in the field such as Blacklight Power and Brillouin now seem to be publicly reaching out more.
Brillouin themselves have shown that they seem to be making progress. The recent videos published at PESN give a good indication that they have a sophisticated R&D operation going on — however, they readily admit they lack the funds to expand as they would like.
I think a positive report from the team currently testing the E-Cat could be a catalyst to really open people’s eyes. Hopefully the testing team will have learned some lessons from last years test, and will have eliminated any possibility of serious objection on the grounds of trickery on Rossi’s part. Rossi’s report of an expanded team is good news — the more expertise the better.
My feeling is that competition in the field is good for everyone — it sharpens the attention and speeds up development, and eventually leads to better products in the marketplace — and the more credible players there are in the field, the more likely LENR is to be taken seriously. What I think is highly significant in all this is that more and more people are coming to a realization that there are new and improved ways to cleanly harness the seemingly limitless energy that is available at the atomic level. If that realization becomes widespread, there is bound to be far more involvement in the field by people in science, industry, business, and public policy — and we really could be looking at a whole new approach to energy production throughout the world.