There’s an interesting article on the New Energy Treasure site about the evolution of energy and the part that LENR might play in that evolution.
The article says that today electricity is the most important form of energy available since it can be used to produce locomotion, light, heat, and ‘everything else in between’. Using LENR to produce heat might be useful in a transition period, but it is not the optimum use of this technology — and according to the article, electricity should not be the end goal.
[…]“I submit to you today that an energy source even better and greater than electricity is on the horizon, maybe a few decades away but it shall come to pass none the less. The name of this new source of energy is called ‘Light’. Not light as we know it today whereby photovoltaics are used to convert it to electricity or the lighting we produce in incandescent, fluorescent, or LED light bulbs, no. I’m talking about ‘Light’ as the primary energy form to replace electricity. I’m talking about photons powering our electronics instead of electrons and light itself producing locomotion without the use of electricity and without any photovoltaics involved.”
“Light can indeed be produced directly from a nuclear reaction and today it can be converted to electricity via photovoltaic cells but tomorrow light will not have to be converted to electricity, it will simply be utilized as is. Tomorrow, through solid state photonics, light shall be able to do all that electricity can and more.”
I am not clear on the physics involved here. It all sounds very advanced, and something beyond the realm of today’s electronics — but theoretically the idea does not seem out of the question. We have a long way to go, of course, before we can start thinking along these lines in practical applications, but if we are looking at the long-term evolution of energy, perhaps it is not outlandish to think of light energy as being ultimate application for LENR.