Posted on 10/28/2011 10:59:24 PM PDT by Kevmo
Oh, /sarcasm, of course, but someone had to be first, ahead of the ecowhackos who will find other reasons to hate this as well.
I think you’re being pessimistic. Remember how fast electronics evolve. I have no idea what the bottleneck is, but if the last 50 years is any judge, the market is going to grab those things and shake them like a rat.
Someone is going to saw one open, reverse engineer it, sell the plans to China, and then they’re going to be everywhere. The market will have to make them better and when that happens, the prices will drop.
What Rossi is doing at this point is trying to make sure that he gets the maximum about of publicity and cash BEFORE he has to let other people know what goes on inside the reactor.
More power to him. I hope he gets enormous credit, medals and huge sacks full of money. This could be the greatest single invention since the plow.
Why on Earth would you think it valid or informative to compare cost of operation of a coal fired power plant with the cost of construction of an E-Cat unit?
By Sterling D. Allan (who was present), with Hank Mills
Pure Energy Systems News
Well, the big day has come and gone. Andrea Rossi's one-megawatt-capable E-Cat cold fusion device has been tested in Bologna, Italy; and the unknown customer, who ran the test, is apparently happy.
There were some issues, so it couldn't be run at full power in self-looped mode, but what it did do was plenty impressive.
It ran for 5.5 hours producing 470 kW, while in self-looped mode. That means no substantial external energy was required to make it run, because it kept itself running, even while producing an excess of nearly half a megawatt. Rossi explained the reasons for this in the presentation he gave, which I videotaped and will be posting later.
That's half the rated capacity, but it is still a major accomplishment for the device that was completed earlier this week -- the first of its kind on the planet.
Early in the day with a glitch showing up, Rossi said that they had to make a decision about whether to go for 1 MW output, not in self-sustain mode, or with self-sustain mode at a lower power level. The customer opted to go for the self-sustain mode. Nothing was said about the prospects of a follow-up test, though I would imagine that the customer will be running many tests to understand this gadget they have purchased, and that information will be conveyed to Rossi.
When I asked him during the Q&A session if the customer was satisfied with the test, Rossi responded, "Yes, I think they are satisfied."
Here is a brief video excerpt highlight from Rossi during his 1-hour reading of the public report from the customer, followed by a question and answer session. I recorded the entire presentation, and we'll post that tomorrow, hopefully along with a transcription. Half the time was in Italian, as he would address each item in Italian as well as English.
In this excerpt, Rossi responds to the question, "So, is this a breakthrough?"
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Here's a transcription of the excerpt video:
Mister Sonya has asked me if I think that the test of today is a breakthrough. I think yes, because I think today we have seen enough. No more small five or ten kilowatt units, but now we have overcame the [cannot understand].... disconnected. The basic engineering to make something that....
You know, to go in self sustain mode and make 400 [actually 470] kilowatt hours per hour... To understand that this is a breakthrough...
You can also think that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to try to have a COP of 1.1 with nuclear fusion. Today we have made a theoretically endless COP making 470 kilowatt hour per hour of completely free energy, free of fuel. Yes, I think this is a breakthrough.
Of course this is the first step, but it is a very important first step....
Early this year Andrea Rossi announced his plans to construct and test the world's first one megawatt cold fusion plant. The plant would utilize his E-Cat (Energy Catalyzer) technology that utilizes tiny quantities of nickel powder and hydrogen gas as fuel, while producing large amounts of energy in the form of heat. Importantly, the energy is produced without emitting any pollution, utilizing any radioactive materials, or producing any nuclear waste. Simply put, the E-Cat offers the world a source of cheap, safe, and clean energy. Although the exact plans for the launch of the technology were adjusted a few times throughout the course of this year, October 28th, 2011 was settled on for the date of the official test of the one megawatt plant by the first customer.
These first plants will cost around $2,000 per kilowatt to build one at a time, but once they are mass produced, Rossi expects the price to drop to around $100 per kilowatt installed.
Attendance at this test was limited for several reasons. First, the customer does not wish to be known at this time, nor to have its test engineers/scientists identified. I did not inadvertently discover the customer's identify, nor did I try to find out. I gave that group their space and did not probe. Second, the device is a nuclear device, and the regulations for a public demonstration are extremely stringent; so by making the event private, and only bringing one or two at a time to see it was a way to get around the safety requirements.
Most of us (around 30 guests total) arrived between 9 and 10 am; and by around 11 am, Rossi began taking people back to see the device while it was in operation, in self-sustained mode. Here's a video I shot, with Rossi's permission, during my 2-3 minute chance to see the unit during operation:
![]() A neighboring facility, coincidentally, is named "Rossi", which is a common name in Italy.
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Power for start-up (resistive coils that provided heat to the reaction chambers) was provided by the large and loud genset (was making all the noise) you see that is nearly as large as the small shipping container in which the 1 MW E-Cat plant was arranged. Once the reaction chambers got up to temperature, they were maintained by the heat produced by the reaction. I'm not sure why they kept the generator running after that, but I would guess it was for back-up or safety. I'm sure the engineers testing the system made sure what the power levels were at all times.
There were 100 E-Cat modules, each with 3 reaction chambers in them, for a total of 300 reaction chambers. An additional 20 or so units had been installed on the top of the shipping container, compared to the earlier photos and videos we had seen. Steam was produced by the units and exited through the back in the bottom of the two pipes. The steam was not put to use to run a load but the heat was dumped via two radiators, distilled, and circulated back into the system. When looking inside the plant, I noticed that one of the E-Cat units had a little steam escaping from the front of it.
The top pipe in the back, which was closed, was for emergency cool-down, if needed.
Each unit was run independently through a computerized control. The input and output temperature readings were recorded by computer, and the data will be provided to us probably later this evening or tomorrow morning. When I went by there, I think the input was measuring 19 C, and the output was 109 C.
Radiation measurements were taken by Dr. Bianchini David, from the University of Bologna. He said no extraneous radiation was detected at any time emanating from the reaction chambers, or from the piping, or from the water tanks, or in the vicinity of the apparatus. Apparently, gamma radiation is produced during the reaction, which is shielded by water, iron, lead, and a final coating on the apparatus. David said that he has not measured gamma radiation from the device, because he has not had access to the reaction chamber while it has been unshielded.
None of the units were taken apart following this test, as was the one back on the October 6 test. I asked Rossi whether any radio frequencies were used in the test, and he said "no".
I would estimate that there were about 12 people assisting with the test arrangement, including: 3-4 security guards, 1 caterer, 2 receptionists who checked to make sure everyone was invited and wore the required badges, 3-4 engineers helping take measurements, Foccardi was helping take guests 1-2 at a time back to see the unit.
I especially enjoyed mingling with the other guests, including: Mats Lewan from NyTeknik; Irene Zreick from Focus.it; Peter Svensson, Technology Writer for the Associated Press, NY, who told me that the reason the mainstream press hasn't been covering this is because Rossi has been very picky about who he lets in; Enrico Billi, a nuclear physicist and friend of Rossi's, who is presently living in China and helping to open doors there for this technology; Professor Christos Stremmenos, from the University of Bologna, who told me all about his theory of how the technology works; Pierre Clauzon, nuclear engineering professor from France, who told me about several theoretical physicists trying to understand cold fusion in general and the E-Cat in particular; Uzikova Irina, a nuclear plant designer from Russia; Stefan Heglesson, representing a Swedish interest in the technology; Loris Ferrari, Associate Professor of Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Bologna, who will be one of the five professors to do the two year test of the E-Cat, which hopefully will be funded as a result of today's test. They will study both the "how" and the "why" of the technology.
Mats and I agreed to post our stories at the same time. Peter was going to go first, having been given an exclusive by Rossi, but it's going to be a few days before he gets the necessary info and editorial approvals before he's able to run a story in the Associated Press.
Probably the biggest opening for skeptics will be the continually running genset that is probably rated for 500 kW (my guess), and appears to have been connected by cables to the E-Cat. "Where's the mystery?" So knock yourselves out, skeptics. It's the customer who has to be happy, and apparently this one was satisfied that those cables were not contributing to the 470 kW output during self-sustaining mode.
Here's a video where Rossi talks to us briefly following the test, saying that a report will come shortly; and giving us the reason for why we couldn't go back during the test except 1-2 at a time.
And here's a video of a couple of 1 MW generators that were in the room where we were hanging out, which were from an earlier project Rossi was involved with, running on biofuel.
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![]() 1 MW unit will go online later in October. |
100/kw is cheep. This is not a continuous production cost. It is the cost of a unit. For about 1500.00 dollars you can have free power over the life of the unit. Sign me up.
The US Navy when it comes to hi-tech can likely field a one too two dozen team of experts on the subject within twenty four hours. Nearly every officer with more than six years active duty will have at least a masters degree and being Navy most will be hard science degrees. If anyone can figure it out, it would be the Navy!
In at least one earlier test, a large spike of radiation was supposedly detected when the device was turned on. That was presented as evidence that the device really was doing nuclear fusion, although the people and equipment detecting the radiation were not in the same room as Rossi and the E-Cat when the radiation was detected, and they had to take Rossi's word that it was due to his E-Cat being turned on.
Wow, that’s an amazing story. The parallels between Priest and Rossi are stunning.
Shouldn't we take into consideration the cost to build the coal plant? I mean, we're looking at a $2 million 1 megawatt power plant (assuming it really does work). I can't imagine you could build a coal plant for anywhere near that -- despite the low operating cost.
Even today, scam artists promoting energy machines can find at least a few degree-holding engineers or physicists willing to declare publicly that they found no fraud or deception in the machines and who are convinced that new scientific principles are at work. So much for "expert witnesses".
That sounds so incredibly relevant to this case.
I find this whole Rossi situation fascinating. There is a certain amount of suspense in waiting to see how long Rossi can keep this going.
just-in-case-you-hadn’t-seen-this PING
I think he’s talking about the cost of electricity generated with coal which includes the cost of the coal, the plant, upkeep and profit. Although, it would have been more clear if he said megawatt hour instead of megawatt.
His point is valid, he’s considering how many megawatts a unit would have to make to pay for itself.
I would go a step farther, since all this unit is doing is making low quality heat, payback should not be measured in megawatt hours but in BTU’s. In other threads there was bragging that you could make 10 megawatts of heat with 1 megawatt of electricity. If this is true, it is a failure, there are cheaper sources of heat, and it may not even compete effectively with a heatpump.
And don’t start name calling, I’m assuming that this is not a scam.
Doesn't anyone see this a at least slightly suspicious?
According to Wikipedia a genset is an engine-generator, a machine used to generate electricity. And Rossi had one of these that was nearly as big as his unit running during the whole test. And this when he is in self-sustained mode.
Thanks.
I don’t have a position on this. I hope it works to the extent of finding a good niche.
Utterly, completely, totally false. Worse, such a statement is ignorant. It is like saying that 20 nickels makes ten dollars.
Electricity was needed to run the pumps. It is explained in the report, for anyone who takes the time to link and read it.
Link is above.
That invention sounds like John Galt’s motor to convert atmospheric static electricity to kinetic energy. Nice!
Note that from the report, 66 kwh of energy was consumed from the time the e-cat was turned on at 1230 and when it was turned off at 1800. During the same time, the e-cat generated 2,635 kwh of energy.
Unless you are one of those who contend that 66 kwh of electrical energy is all you need to generate 2635 kwh of heat energy, you would have to accept that something other than fraud is going on here.
Talk to us after 5.5 days, weeks, and months of producing continuous power during the self-sustaining mode. The 5.5 hours is too short a time to produce credible results.
How much time does the system need to get past its transition from start-up to steady state mode of continuous power production? Why is there not one that has been running for months? Tests seen to be always for short periods of time.
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