Andrea Rossi started the test of his 1 megawatt e-cat cold fusion device in Bologna today. The purpose of the test is to see if the low energy nuclear reaction device can generate a sustained reaction that can continuously make large amounts of heat. If it can it could theoretically be able to generate enough heat to run a steam engine to power a vehicle or an electric generator.
Rossi's 1 megwatt e-cat generator is being tested today
The test is apparently being monitored by Rossi’s US customer whose identity is still secret. This will be the first time an e-cat test is monitored by somebody other than Rossi which is important to verify his claims.
Rossi promised to release a non-secret report from this customer on his website sometime tonight. He did not say what this report would contain or whether it would finally identify his mysterious American partner. Internet speculation has named everything from Google to the US Navy as this partner.
The e-cat is also attracting quite a bit of online attention including another commentary at Forbes magazine’s website. In an intelligent piece Mark P. Mills, a physicist and venture capitalist cautioned people not to expect an overnight revolution from Rossi’s device. He also notes some fallacies that cloud individual’s thinking so it’s a good read. In particular he notes the length of time it takes to develop new technologies from ideas.
Mark P. Mills courteosy Forbes
Mills is smart enough not to discount Rossi only to counsel people not to expect too much from him. That’s an intelligent position that we should all take.
My take by the way is that Rossi is certainly onto something but it is going to take awhile to commercialize it and get a working practical energy source we can all use. The steam engine was invented in the early 1700s but it was not widely used for industrial purposes until the early 19th century 100 years later.
There is another excellent little piece in the British version of Wired magazine that provides a good one over view of Rossi annd his work.
The domestic policy blog of the famous US conservative journal the National Review has also noted Mark Gibbs’ earlier piece on Rossi and e-cat. Reviewer Reihan Salam reflected the ignorance of the mainstream media with a simple quote “this can’t be serious.” It sounds like the media reaction to the Wright Brothers airplane tests which was similarly dismissive.
History has proven that journalists make poor forecasters. Interestingly enough Salam’s rant got a large number reactions that indicate a lot of average people out there are following Rossi’s work and ignoring the wise men in the media and scientific establishments. Who are often the last to notice when things change.
Either way it’s an exciting time to be alive and I feel history is being made.
> The steam engine was invented in the early 1700s but it was not widely used for industrial purposes until the early 19th century 100 years later.
At first 1900 the horse was the usual way to move.
69 years later a man walked on the moon.
Some years ago the entire man’s genoma is sequenced.
Don’t put useless rocks behind the wheels of progress…
I am skeptical, but I sure hope he is on to something. The world could use a “silver bullet”.
It seems like Rossi is simply using this as a publicity stunt to get attention to his “journal”. But if this works, wow, it’ll revolutionize the WORLD! can you imagine having one of these small reactors in the car and never having to worry about gasoline again!!???
There was an Associated Press science writer present throughout the test, and I am anxious to see his or her article. I have followed this intensively, and have my own article about it at
http://www.american-reporter.com/4,320/73.html
I thought the new Forbes.com piece was unnecessarily derogatory, CYA stuff, not reporting and certainly no more than an uninformed OpEd.
Since we have since learned after today’s test that without any power input the device produces 478,000 watts of power continuously in self-sustaining mode, and the customer was satisfied with it and closed the sale, I suspect it may move very quickly into the mainstream. We have all the latest on our ticker at the top of the The American Reporter.
Joe Shea
Editor-in-Chief
The American Reporter
The question is irrelevant how much power it produces in “self-sustaining mode”…without knowing how much power the device needs for input first in this ominous “heat up phase”. What if they needed to “heat up” the plant for a week first? And did you ever wonder why the tests are always prematurely ending..only lasting for some hours…never for a long time like a day or longer, which would be inevitable proof that the device does indeed produce power? Would you heat up water in a pot on the stove, turn off the stove and then claim you found free energy because you will have hot water available without the stove being on? Rossi is welcome and free to prove this all wrong, but there is too much secrecy already…to be honest unless 100% proven working i am more and more tending to say there is something shady about it. Let this device running for a week and let independent scientists do the measurements…not do some alleged test and then turn off the device after 3 hours (while it took 4 hours to “heat” the device)….sorry people..common sense!?