[dangus]

Looks like a mere shell company? Started in 2012... No key people listed in BusinessWeek profile besides Darden... No products... No web page... Supposedly working in NC Triangle, but really based in TX.

[Kevmo]

Mr. Darden earned an MRP in environmental planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a JD from Yale Law School and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar.

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2014/01/24/onfirmed-raleighs-cherokee-buys-into.html

Interesting comments here:
Confirmed: Raleigh’s Cherokee buys into controversial nuclear tech device

Executives at Cherokee Investment Partners


in Raleigh have confirmed that its affiliate company, Industrial Heat LLC, has acquired the intellectual property and licensing rights to a nuclear device from Italy that some say could one day replace electric or fossil fuels.

It’s called the Energy Catalyzer, or E-Cat, and is described as a low energy nuclear reaction technology that was developed by Italian scientist Andrea Rossi

http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/adview?ai=BkpU2zArjUrC6K-zh6gGKq4GYB8n34ugEAAAAEAEgADgAWLGf8oSUAWDJvrmH4KO0EIIBF2NhLXB1Yi05NzM2MDkyNjA0Njc3NTE2sgETd3d3LmJpempvdXJuYWxzLmNvbboBCWdmcF9pbWFnZcgBCdoBXWh0dHA6Ly93d3cuYml6am91cm5hbHMuY29tL3RyaWFuZ2xlL25ld3MvMjAxNC8wMS8yNC9vbmZpcm1lZC1yYWxlaWdocy1jaGVyb2tlZS1idXlzLWludG8uaHRtbJgCsOoBwAIC4AIA6gIeNDYzNS9iemoudHJpYW5nbGUvYXJ0aWNsZV9wYWdl-AKB0h6QA6QDmAOkA6gDAeAEAZIFCwgHEAEYByCRzsYYoAYg&sigh=9rjhz6KN03Q&adurl=http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad/1482981/PNCBankInterstitial.html%3Ft%3D10%26cT%3Dhttp%253A//bzijournals.com%26l%3Dhttp%253A//www.bizjournals.com/triangle/search/results%253Fq%253DAndrea%252520Rossi.

The E-Cat is designed to use catalysts to produce large amounts of thermal heat using hydrogen gas and powdered nickel metal. . . .

Skeptics of Rossi’s technology, including Forbes contributor
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/11/29/why-im-certain-that-the-rossi-e-cat-doesnt-work-as-advertised
Tim Worstall
http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/adview?ai=BkpU2zArjUrC6K-zh6gGKq4GYB8n34ugEAAAAEAEgADgAWLGf8oSUAWDJvrmH4KO0EIIBF2NhLXB1Yi05NzM2MDkyNjA0Njc3NTE2sgETd3d3LmJpempvdXJuYWxzLmNvbboBCWdmcF9pbWFnZcgBCdoBXWh0dHA6Ly93d3cuYml6am91cm5hbHMuY29tL3RyaWFuZ2xlL25ld3MvMjAxNC8wMS8yNC9vbmZpcm1lZC1yYWxlaWdocy1jaGVyb2tlZS1idXlzLWludG8uaHRtbJgCsOoBwAIC4AIA6gIeNDYzNS9iemoudHJpYW5nbGUvYXJ0aWNsZV9wYWdl-AKB0h6QA6QDmAOkA6gDAeAEAZIFCwgHEAEYByCRzsYYoAYg&sigh=9rjhz6KN03Q&adurl=http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad/1482981/PNCBankInterstitial.html%3Ft%3D10%26cT%3Dhttp%253A//bzijournals.com%26l%3Dhttp%253A//www.bizjournals.com/triangle/search/results%253Fq%253DTim%252520Worstall

still question the chemistry, the physics and the economics behind the technology. . . . [You bet they question it!]

Darden confirmed in an interview with Triangle Business Journal in early January

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/2014/01/is-raleighs-cherokee-trying-to-cut-an.html)
that Industrial Heat was one of the topics he discussed with Chinese officials on a recent trip to China.

“The world needs a new, clean and efficient energy source. Such a technology would raise the standard of living in developing countries and reduce the environmental impact of producing energy,” Vaughn stated.

[Normandy]

There’s another company called Industrial Heat LLC, in Carrollton, Texas which was founded in 2004. I think it is unrelated:

http://www.wysk.com/index/texas/carrollton/b7pwfpl/industrial-heat-llc/profile