back to article Mullumbimby’s plan to save the world peters out

A reader has alerted The Register to the outcome of the Mullumbimby E-cat promotional meeting. It ended without issue after a planned Skype call from inventor Andrea Rossi failed to eventuate. Both the citizens of the northern New South Wales town, and skeptic philanthropist Dick Smith (who had offered $AU200,000 for proof …

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  1. Goat Jam
    Angel

    It's Adams Platform

    all over again!

    Aussie ingenuity at its best.

  2. Winkypop Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Good article

    I loved this line:

    "It’s akin to regarding the Royal Family’s attitude to homeopathy as scientific proof."

    How to spot logical fallacies needs to be taught at school*

    (* they certainly didn't teach me anyway)

  3. Brad Arnold
    Thumb Up

    LENR Primer

    There is a new clean energy technology that is 1/10th the cost of coal. Don’t believe me? Watch this video by a Nobel prize winner in physics: http://pesn.com/2011/06/23/9501856_Nobel_laureate_touts_E-Cat_cold_fusion/

    Still don’t believe me? It convinced the Swedish Skeptics Society: http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/energi_miljo/energi/article3144827.ece

    http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/05/swedish-skeptics-confirm-nuclear-process-in-tiny-4-7-kw-reactor

    LENR using nickel. Incredibly: Ni+H+K2CO3(heated under pressure)=Cu+lots of heat. Here is a detailed description of the device and formula from a US government contract: www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/GernertNnascenthyd.pdf

    Here is a PowerPoint presentation by George Miley of the University of Illinois who has successfully replicated the LENR "cold fusion" reaction: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/mragheb/www/NPRE%20498ES%20Energy%20Storage%20Systems/Nuclear%20Battery%20using%20Clusters%20in%20Nanomaterials.pptx

    According to Forbes, electricity will be "too cheap to meter" if Rossi's Oct 28 demonstration succeeds: http://www.forbes.com/sites/markgibbs/2011/10/17/hello-cheap-energy-hello-brave-new-world/

    Here's the latest, according to MSNBC it passed the test: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45153076/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.TrNo9rJqwe4

    1. David Hicks

      It's still a one-man show

      Until these things are actually deployed and used somewhere that's not under the control of the showman and his crew, I'll happily shout it down as a load of old cod.

      It's Orbo all over again at this stage.

    2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      And really, what source is more trustworthy than someone who keeps pasting the same boilerplate into the comments page on a news site?

  4. Intractable Potsherd

    @Brad

    I've said it before, and make no apologies for saying it again: extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof. There is very little proof of any type here, so anyone would be a fool to take any notice of this. It is just a pig in a poke as far as any sensible person can see.

    If there is anything at all in this, Rossi needs to publish it in respected scientific journals (and there isn't one in your list), and make it possible for others to replicate it. My attitude is that, if it is true, given the benefits to humanity that it represents, he has a duty to stop f***ing around and get it out into the world as soon as possible.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Disappointingly poor article

    I'm disappointed to see a reg article that sidesteps so much factual information in favour of joining what the Swiss scientific community refers to as the "lynch mob mentality" of the press and cold fusion sceptics.

    Read some of the links provided by Brad Arnold above for a start and you'll realise how badly this article misses the point and helps spread misinformation. The theories behind this device may not be clearly formed in wider science but the results it has produced have been replicated by others, there is far more evidence in support of the device than against and most of that against has been or is in the process of being discredited.

    A very poorly researched article indeed, shame on you :-(

  6. nederlander

    hold on..

    I'm no rossi apologist, I think the likelyhood is that he is a self deluded showman, however, I don't get your NASA argument. The only amazing thing about Rossi's claims is that the coulomb barrier can be overcome at low temp/pressure. That is the part that someone from NASA seems to agree with. If we assume that that is true then rossi having a (semi-) working boiler based on the phenomenon is hardly a great leap of the imagination.

    Also not sure what your point was about money. AFAIK no one is asking for money.

    The only rational position we can take given the information that is public is to reserve judgement until conclusive evidence is given to vindicate or debunk rossi.

  7. SpiderPig
    Thumb Down

    another alternative??

    I think the world would do better to pull its finger out and get behind using LFTR's instead of some pie in the sky maybe it will work technology.

    The use of Thorium as a replacement for uranium in nuclear reactors is actually a proven technology and there was a running reactor in the US from 1965~1969. The AEC pulled the pin on it because they were pushing for the fast breeder reactor using plutonium.

    The world is made of Thorium and its energy density is huge compared to what we have today.

    One thing to remember about Mullimbimby is it is on the NSW North Coast very close to Nimbin, the hippie and pot centre, so maybe they got a load of bad grass and all this seemed like a great idea.

    Can't wait for the pill you pop into you gas tank and fill it with water and drive off.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh grow up

    El Reg and its contributors are entitled to be as skeptical as they like.

    Rossi and chums have to provide scientific proof E-cat works (e.g multiple independent third party testability and repeatability of suitable experiments).

    El Reg and contributors are not obliged to prove that it doesn't - end of story.

    1. Fashtas

      People say there is proof but where is it?

      I've read a lot of the links posted here, and followed links from there elsewhere and from what I can tell there has never been any proof.

      No scientific journal would publish his paper, so he self published on his blog. The paper itself leaves out a lot of information

      In fact the only scientific article I could find was one that questioned his press releases, mostly talking about the fact the machine produces too much copper

      No idea if his machine works or not, but if people keep saying "there is proof" I'd like a published paper from Rosi showing it and several other laboratories able to reproduce the results.

  9. Dan Keating
    Linux

    Now for the science bit ..

    I imagine that if I had a working LENR device, someone in australia waving 200k in my direction wouldn't be much of an attention magnet.

    Speculation either way is a waste of time until we're in a position to get the process scientifically verified. When we open that box, all these possibilities will collapse in to a single state and the e-cat will either be dead or alive.

  10. DeveloperChris
    FAIL

    Zawodny (NASA) distances himself from perceived support of ECAT and LENR

    An excerpt of Zawodny's explanation for the NASA video which has been widely misrepresented as support of the ecat and LENR in general

    http://ecatnews.com/?p=1868

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