Sunday, March 6, 2011

"We have arrived"

A couple Italian scientists recently discovered how to produce energy using LENR, a Low Energy Nuclear Reaction. It's otherwise known as "cold fusion." According to Edmund Storms, in this article from Cold Fusion Now, "there’s no doubt that it has the potential to really be a serious competitor for a primary energy."

In other words, we have just found an inexhaustible source of cheep, clean energy. In Storm's words "we have arrived."

I don't mean to sound melodramatic. This is a breakthrough for humanity that rivals the containment of fire, or the wheel, nitrogen beer widgets. If the reports are accurate, there are no byproducts except trace amounts of copper that result from the fusion of hydrogen and nickel, and no harmful radiation is emitted. The reactor that was demonstrated in Italy required 400 watts of input and generated 12,400 watts of power released as steam. They (Rossi and Focardi, who discovered this) plan to combine 100 units in order to build a 1 megawatt reactor in Florida.

It's hard to exaggerate the possibilities. They are absolutely mind-blowing, and I've noticed such things tend to scare people off. Why is that? I guess some don't like to get their hopes up for fear of disappointment. Not me. I have never been disappointed whilst getting my mind blown. I guess it's just a matter of knowing who/what to believe. Well folks, this appears to be real.

Here goes: this singular discovery has the potential to:
  • Satisfy the objectives of even the most fanatical environmentalist, eliminating carbon emissions and all other byproducts from energy production. This is a pollution-free, entirely green energy source.
  • Eliminate dependence on foreign oil, liberating humanity from the need to wage war to procure scarce resources in foreign lands.
  • Allow us to grow an unlimited supply of cheep, organic, wholesome, natural, clean, fresh food, replacing the need for GMO, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, etc. Really? Yes...
    Putting a farm outdoors has one big advantage: free energy, the light and heat from the sun. Unfortunately, it has many disadvantages. You get too much light and heat, or not enough. Things go catastrophically wrong. Insects and rodents eat the food. Crops must compete with weeds, and fight bacteria. Floods wash away seeds and fertilizer, and cause mildew. Farms suffer from droughts. Crops are reduced when it does not freeze hard enough in the winter, or wiped out when it freezes too late in the spring . . . With cold fusion, we can eliminate these problems by bringing food production inside. This will save an immense amount of land, it will reduce water pollution, and it will let us grow unlimited amounts of cheap, organic, wholesome, natural, clean, fresh food. This will be one of the biggest bonuses of cold fusion. -Infinite Energy
  • Build computers, cellphones, cars, and houses that never need recharging.
  • Build airplanes and helicopters that have an unlimited range.
  • Exploit countless other advantages we could scarcely imagine today.
You have not heard about this on the news, probably because of the big disappointment following the scientific community's inability to reproduce the Fleischmann and Pons experiment in 1989 (which worked, btw, just not predictably). Since then cold fusion has been regarded by everyone, media and scientists alike, as junk science. No one wants to touch it - not because it isn't true, but because its 'too good to be true.'

Fortunately, over the internet, we can watch these historic events out of Italy unfold, and observe humanity restore itself to a peaceful, mutually beneficial species free from war, want, or strife.

But first, these guys need to get a patent. So far their attempts have been rejected(!) I guess proving something is scientifically feasible is difficult when dealing with breakthrough science - it's not like this stuff is already in textbooks. Anyway, after they get a patent and these things start rolling off the assembly line, there will be a stampede. Slowly, the denial, paranoia, insanity, and other expected collective irrationality will ended, and we will quite possibly be left with a new palette of creative tools with which to design our existence. I, for one, welcome and encourage them.