I do not know if Cold Fusion is a real process or an artifact.
***It was replicated more than 14,700 times before Rossi even came onto the scene.
This is for scientists to find out. However looking from the business point of view,
***Good idea. Where is the “business point of view” on controlled-hot-fusion today? There has been hundreds of $billions dumped into this fraud with PUBLIC money. Absolutely zero in return...
efforts to productize the energy output are extremely disappointing so far.
***I would agree with that.
And that is after several demos that Rossi performed - which presumably prove that the energy production has positive balance.
***Today’s announcement suggests that he’s moving forward, even with a terrible legal-convict background. That means the technology has to meet a higher standard to overcome the character barrier.
From the business POV, the only way to get energy out of this whole segment of industry is by burning their press releases :-)
***From the business POV, Rossi is a man of questionable character. So for someone with a Yale law degree to invest in him suggests his technology is so impressive that it overcomes that barrier.
I wouldn't classify those demos as "crappy." They worked. The catch was in tight controls over the demos. I reviewed the scenarios, and even came up with one possibility for feeding external power into the system through wires. It would have helped greatly to make the demo more open. Keep the reactor secret; but let anyone else make hot water with this machine. After a while all the skeptics would have ran out of arguments.
Where is the “business point of view” on controlled-hot-fusion today? There has been hundreds of $billions dumped into this fraud with PUBLIC money. Absolutely zero in return...
Well, hot fusion has one big excuse - nobody doubts that it works :-) Yes, it's hard to control, but the foundation is solid, and it is entirely described by existing physics. I am not all that excited about waiting so long for my flying car, but at least it has potential. Will hot fusion reactor ever be done? I don't know. Given enough time, yes. The Sun is pretty much under control; it's just we don't need a reactor that big :-)
***From the business POV, Rossi is a man of questionable character. So for someone with a Yale law degree to invest in him suggests his technology is so impressive that it overcomes that barrier.
Perhaps. I wouldn't be very sure about that in either direction. It can be good and it can be bad. I see it as neutral so far. If the money helps build the working machine, it's everyone's win. If not... too sad. Humanity would love to gain access to cheap and safe nuclear reactors. But the realist in me advises caution. Since I'm focused on practical assessment of a working device, it is not relevant to me what Rossi was convicted for. Rossi is not a product; his machine is. That's why I want to see the working machine, not the credentials of its inventors.