Andrea Rossi, an Italian inventor has developed and is now commercializing a cold fusion reactor that produces heat at a very high power density, roughly comparable to today's nuclear fission plants.
The reaction uses nickel and hydrogen, which fuse to produce copper. This energy rich but extremely clean process is used to heat water. The resulting steam can be used directly as a carrier of heat or be converted to electricity.
There is much development work to be done still but the technology has shown its potential and is being offered in containered 1 megawatt plants.
10 kW home units are planned but not yet available.
Physicists have built a graphene battery that harvests energy from the thermal movement of ions in solution
Here's an interesting idea for a battery. The thermal velocity of ions in aqueous solution is huge–hundreds of metres per second at room temperature. And yet few people have studied this process or its potential to generate current.
Step forward Zihan Xu at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a few buddies who have not only studied this process but seemingly mastered it too.
These guys have created a circuit consisting of an LED connected to a strip of graphene by some wire. They simply placed the graphene in a solution of copper chloride and watched. Sure enough, the LED lights up. (Actually, they needed six of these graphene circuits in series to generate the 2V needed to make the LED light up but you get the picture.)
Here's what's going on, according to Zihan and co. The copper ions, which have a double positive charge, move through the solution at a rate of about 300 metres per second thanks to the thermal energy of the solution at room temperature.
When an ion smashes into the graphene strip, the collision generates enough energy to kick a delocalised electron out of the graphene.
The electron then has two options: it can either leave the graphene strip and combine with the copper ion or it can travel through the graphene strip and into the circuit.
It turns out that the mobility of electrons is much higher in graphene than it is through the solution, so the electron naturally chooses the route through the circuit. It is this that lights up the LED.
“The released electrons prefer to travel across the graphene surface…instead of going into the electrolyte solution. That is how the voltage was produced by our device,” say Zihan and co.
So the energy generated by this device comes from ambient heat. These guys say there were able to increase the current by heating the solution and also by accelerating the copper ions with ultrasound. They even claim to have kept their graphene battery running for 20 days on nothing but ambient heat.
Phi Beta Iota: There is no lack of free to low-cost energy solutions. Up to this point industry, in collusion with Congress, has been able to keep such “meter-killers” off the marketplace. What is new now is a combination of the advancement of non-US science in Brazil, China, India, and Russia, and the Internet. We anticipate a new movement of new small cities that are committed to being “off the grid” from day one.
The truth about what happened in Japan will not be known for some time. Remarkable, however, is the below admission of two key attributes for successful governance: first, share all information broadly and quickly; and second, do not believe ignorant over-confidence (if not outright lies) told by “experts” from both the public and private sector. The Japanese government may not be practicing complete openness, for example, with respect to the radioactive contamination of the Tokyo suburbs, but this is a step in the right direction. “The truth at any cost lowers all other costs.”
Japan's prime minister acknowledged Saturday the government failed in its response to last year's earthquake and tsunami, being too slow in relaying key information and believing too much in “a myth of safety” about nuclear power.
“We can no longer make the excuse that what was unpredictable and outside our imagination has happened,” Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said. “Crisis management requires us to imagine what may be outside our imagination.”
Sad as the comment might be, this makes sense. Every state should do doing similar planning. The next major collapse is scheduled for 2013-2014. The next step up would be regional (nine nations) planning boards for agriculture, energy, food, and water. This summer may be the last calm period for some time.
CHEYENNE — State representatives on Friday advanced legislation to launch a study into what Wyoming should do in the event of a complete economic or political collapse in the United States.
House Bill 85 passed on first reading by a voice vote. It would create a state-run government continuity task force, which would study and prepare Wyoming for potential catastrophes, from disruptions in food and energy supplies to a complete meltdown of the federal government.
The task force would look at the feasibility of
Wyoming issuing its own alternative currency, if needed. And House members approved an amendment Friday by state Rep. Kermit Brown, R-Laramie, to have the task force also examine conditions under which Wyoming would need to implement its own military draft, raise a standing army, and acquire strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. David Miller, R-Riverton, has said he doesn’t anticipate any major crises hitting America anytime soon. But with the national debt exceeding $15 trillion and protest movements growing around the country, Miller said Wyoming — which has a comparatively good economy and sound state finances — needs to make sure it’s protected should any unexpected emergency hit the U.S.
Several House members spoke in favor of the legislation, saying there was no harm in preparing for the worst.
“I don’t think there’s anyone in this room today what would come up here and say that this country is in good shape, that the world is stable and in good shape — because that is clearly not the case,” state Rep. Lorraine Quarberg, R-Thermopolis, said. “To put your head in the sand and think that nothing bad’s going to happen, and that we have no obligation to the citizens of the state of Wyoming to at least have the discussion, is not healthy.”
Wyoming’s Department of Homeland Security already has a statewide crisis management plan, but it doesn’t cover what the state should do in the event of an extreme nationwide political or economic collapse. In recent years, lawmakers in at least six states have introduced legislation to create a state currency, all unsuccessfully.
The task force would include state lawmakers, the director of the Wyoming Department of Homeland Security, the Wyoming attorney general and the Wyoming National Guard’s adjutant general, among others.
The bill must pass two more House votes before it would head to the Senate for consideration. The original bill appropriated $32,000 for the task force, though the Joint Appropriations Committee slashed that number in half earlier this week.
University of Wyoming political science professor Jim King said the potential for a complete unraveling of the U.S. government and economy is “astronomically remote” in the foreseeable future.
But King noted that the federal government set up a Continuity of Government Commission in 2002, of which former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson, R-Wyo., was co-chairman. However, King said he didn’t know of any states that had established a similar board.
Drexel University engineers have found a way to improve upon ordinary Portland cement (OPC), the glue that’s bonded much of the world’s construction since the late 1800s. In research recently published in Cement and Concrete Composites the group served up a recipe for cement that is more energy efficient and cost effective to produce than masonry’s most prevalent bonding compound.
Drexel’s “green” variety is a form of alkali-activated cement that utilizes an industrial byproduct, called slag, and a common mineral, limestone, and does not require heating to produce.
According to Dr. Michel W. Barsoum, A.W. Grosvenor professor in Drexel’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, this alternative production method and the ubiquity of the mix ingredients, lessens the cost of materials for Drexel’s cement by about 40 percent versus Portland cement and reduces energy consumption and carbon dioxide production by 97 percent.
“Cement consumption is rapidly rising, especially in newly industrialized countries, and it’s already responsible for 5 percent of human-made carbon dioxide. This is a unique way to limit the environmental consequences of meeting demand,” Dr. Alex Moseson, one of the lead researchers on the project, said.
South African Fuel-Free Generator Preparing for Market
Sterling Allan reports on his recent trip to South Africa to visit a company who has developed a 5 kilowatt Fuel Free Generator that will be available beginning March for their existing customers. Sterling will be getting a generator to test and use on his home from that first batch of 200.
On February 11 and 12, I was able to witness a 5 kilowatt (enough to power a home without central air conditioning, conservatively) fuel-free generator in Johannesburg and to meet the inventor and some of the principle players in helping him bring this technology to market.
As mentioned in my previous story on this matter, the South African company invited me to come see the technology first-hand so that I would not be making a statement along the lines of “they claim…”, or “if this is real…”, but so that I would be able to speak from personal experience after witnessing the technology in operation. They also offered to sell me a unit that I could personally test, promising to refund the cost if it did not perform as claimed.
I wish to thank all of you who stepped forward enthusiastically to donate funds to make this trip and procurement possible. The plan is to ship me one of the first 200 units.
The company, for now, wishes to remain off the radar. They don't currently have a website, but one is expected to be completed in about a month or so. They plan to make a big splash soon. For now, interested parties (as a result of this coverage), can reach them through me. So in this coverage, I will only refer to them as the “S. African Company”, and their product as the “FFG”, which stands for Fuel-Free Generator.
Top Five
I do consider this technology to be a contender in our Top 5 Exotic Free Energy Technologies listing, due to its being close to market with a substantial, reliable output that is competitively priced to be more affordable than conventional energy sources, while producing no pollution, and being ready for rapid deployment through the setting up of licensees worldwide.
I was very impressed with the personnel involved in the S. African company. So many great technologies over the years have been hindered primarily by unworkable inventors or teams that can't work well together.
The last time oil went in this direction, it caused a slowing in the global economy that led to a global financial panic.
What's causing it? Peak oil, Chinese growth and lots of potential oil disruption. Pretty much the same factors that caused it last time.
The pipeline disruption is a little different this time.
Israel
The headline player is Iran due to its nuclear program. But Iran isn't actually disrupting the production system, they are merely making threats.
If you unwind this a bit, it's pretty clear that the countries actually sending shockwaves of fear through the markets are Israel and the US. However, of the partners in this relationship, Israel is in the drivers seat. They are calling the shots on the timing of an attack on Iran and they will take the world along for a ride.
