Cutting to the chase do you see this leading to economically exploitable sources of energy in the near term?
***No. I see it as a long term solution. But it will be highly disruptive technology, like the automobile and personal computer combined.
Jed Rothwell has a good perspective on this over at Vortex-L
[Vo]:Gibbs article is annoying
http://www.mail-archive.com/vortex-
Jed Rothwell
Sun, 05 Aug 2012 17:24:14 -0700
The most recent Gibbs article is here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markgibbs/2012/08/04/the-state-of-the-cold-fusion-market/
I find this annoying. He writes:
“So, is cold fusion real? Well, from the thousands of experiments performed
over the last few decades it seems that there are various reactions that
output more energy than is put into them but whether these effects can be
scaled up into devices that output a significant amount of energy and
operate reliably still isn’t clear.”
This response does not answer the question! Gibbs asks “Is cold fusion
real” and then — instead of answering that — he talks about “whether
these efforts can be scaled up.” “Real” and “scalable” are two different
things. No one disputes that muon catalyzed fusion is real, but it cannot
be scaled up. Tokama plasma fusion is real but it cannot be scaled *down*.
This is sloppy. Ask a question and then answer it. Do not answer another
question.
The answer is: Yes, cold fusion is real, because it has been replicated in
hundreds of major laboratories, and these replications have been published
in carefully vetted, top-of-the-line peer reviewed journals. That is the
definition of “real” in experimental science. There is no other criterion
for being real. Whether it is scaled up or commercialized has no bearing on
that question. To answer this, Gibbs should cite the journals.
If you are asking: “can cold fusion be scaled up?” the answer is: “we don’t
know yet. It seems Rossi has scaled up but there is no independent proof
yet.”
- Jed
theorize, calculate, engineer, optimize, produce, restart ...that’s all we’ve typically done with new things...