An article published in the Wall Street Journal examines the story of Inductance Energy Corporation and the role of Dennis Danzik in particular as the inventor of the Earth Engine.
The author, Dan Neil, takes an open-minded approach to the claims of Danzik and IEC, acknowledging that their claims go against the laws of physics as they are currently understood, but also allowing for the fact that it might be possible that a breakthrough might have been made. He writes: “If it works as advertised, it would rank with the harnessing of steam, electricity and the atom.”
As many readers here are aware, IEC claims that it can produce energy through a new type of magnetic interaction which physics says cannot work because of the law of conservation of energy (magnetic attraction and repulsion cancel each other out) The WSJ article explains it like this:
The magnets IEC uses are also highly one-sided, or “anisotropic,” which means their field is stronger on one face than the other—say, 85% North and 15% South.
In the R32, magnets located in three black towers interact with ones placed in the two one-ton, counter-rotating flywheels. As the flywheel rotates, small battery-powered motors move the tower magnets’ orientation at moments of highest drag. This allows the magnets to accelerate as they approach and not slow down as much when they pass.
The net force imparts angular momentum to the flywheels that can then be harvested, mechanically or electrically, IEC claims.
The article is pretty neutral. It acknowledges that there is skepticism amongst some physicists, but also that some visitors to the IEC Scottsdale, Arizona facility leave thinking that they have seen working magnet motors. Dan Neil says it has to be one of two things: an immense scientific/technological breakthrough, or an elaborate magic trick.
A newspaper article in a major newspaper like the WSJ is likely to generate new interest in IEC’s claims, and possibly help them get new customers. The target market seems to be operations where they currently use diesel generators, such as oil fields, where they say they will sell electricity from between 8-45 cents per kw/H (compared to $1 for diesel generated electricity).
Ultimately, in order for people to become convinced this is not a magic trick, it will take happy Earth Engine customers willing to publicly endorse the technology. Only one customer is named in this article: Shooting Range Industries in Las Vegas, Nevada which is owned by an IEC investor named Mike Halverson.
I have tried to get some comment from Shooting Range Industries about how happy they were with the performance of the Earth Engine, but they just referred me back to IEC who have yet to respond to my inquiries.
The WSJ article is available here, however only part of it is available to the general public.