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Popular Science Goes to Bologna

Oct 242012
 

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Oct. 24, 2012 – By Steven B. Krivit –

Steven Featherstone’s article “Can Andrea Rossi’s Infinite-Energy Black Box Power The World – Or Just Scam It?” published yesterday online on the Popular Science Web site.

“Silverbird” wrote the following astute one-sentence comment in response on the Popular Science Web site: “Why did this BS require 8 pages?”

Indeed, it is a peculiar story, not for its content but for its timing.

Featherstone contacted me on June 19 this year.

“I came across your site while researching a feature story about ‘cold fusion,’ or LENR as it were, and Andrea Rossi in particular,” Featherstone wrote. “I’m new to the subject of cold fusion, so it’s been quite an uphill battle separating fact from fiction, especially with material found on the Web, most of which appears to be fiction. Your skepticism about Rossi’s claims, while not rare, seems more informed than most and certainly well-documented. In fact, I’ve ordered your book and plan to read it ASAP. Continue reading »

Chronology and Dramatis Personae in Andrea Rossi’s Confidence Game

Oct 142012
 
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Artist’s visualization of 1MW plant on its way to “the customer.” Image courtesy JB Salvage.

Oct. 14, 2012 – By Steven B. Krivit –

New Energy Times has published three articles to bring our reporting of Andrea Rossi and his Energy Catalyzer hoax to a close.

On Oct. 11, we published transcript excerpts from my Bologna, Italy, video interviews of Rossi and his colleagues.

Also, on Oct. 11, we published “Rossi Investigation Summary.”

 

Today, we published “Chronology and Dramatis Personae in Andrea Rossi’s Confidence Game.”

Our Web page “Andrea Rossi Energy Catalyzer Investigation Index” provides links to these and many more resources on this story.

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Rossi Interview Transcript Excerpts Published

Oct 112012
 
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Andrea Rossi. Image courtesy Mats Lewan

Oct. 11, 2012 – By Steven B. Krivit –

In 2011, Andrea Rossi, a convicted criminal with a string of failed energy ventures in his past, sought media attention and credibility for a device he said could produce extraordinary levels of low-energy nuclear reaction-based excess heat. To a certain degree, his device appeared to copy the work of Francesco Piantelli. Piantelli is a retired professor of physics from the University of Sienna in Italy and has a long history of credible, published LENR research.

On June 14 and 15, 2011, I was in Bologna, Italy, interviewing Rossi and filming his Energy Catalyzer device. I also interviewed his colleague, Sergio Focardi, professor emeritus at the University of Bologna Physics Department, whom Rossi had befriended. I also interviewed Giuseppe Levi, a professor of physics at the University of Bologna.

I have just published transcript excerpts from my video interviews of Rossi, Focardi and Levi. We produced these transcripts many months ago with the help of several New Energy Times readers, but I had forgotten to publish them until now. Continue reading »

National Ignition Facility Fails to Ignite

Oct 082012
 

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Oct. 8, 2012 – Article by New York Times, Photos by Steven B. Krivit –

The world’s most energetic laser has failed to meet its latest deadline for achieving ignition, the New York Times reports.

Source: New York Times

After spending more than $5 billion to build and operate a giant laser installation the size of a football stadium, the Energy Department has not achieved its goal of igniting a fusion reaction that could produce energy to generate power or simulate what happens in a nuclear weapon.

The latest deadline for achieving ignition was last Sunday, Sept. 30, the end of fiscal year 2012, but it passed amid mounting concerns that the technical challenges were too great to be mastered on a tight time schedule.

Congress will need to look hard at whether the project should be continued, or scrapped or slowed to help reduce federal spending.

Story Continues Here

Here are some photos I shot of NIF during a tour last year. Click each one to see larger versions. Continue reading »

Discover Magazine Finds Widom-Larsen LENR Theory

Oct 052012
 

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Oct. 6, 2012 – By Steven B. Krivit –

The latest issue of Discover magazine includes a two-page article by Mark Anderson that features the Widom-Larsen ultra-low-momentum neutron-catalyzed theory of low-energy nuclear reactions.

The title is “Bring Back the Cold Fusion Dream,” and the subtitle is “A new theory may explain the notorious cold fusion experiment from two decades ago, reigniting hopes of a clean-energy breakthrough.”

No other LENR theory is mentioned in the Discover article, although there are plenty. However, as Anderson wrote, none of the other theories has as much going for it as does the Widom-Larsen theory. Even Ephraim Fischbach, a Purdue University physicist, favored the Widom-Larsen theory over his Purdue colleague Yeong Kim’s “cold fusion” theory, according to Anderson.

“The Widom-Larsen theory is the best-formulated explanation of what’s going on,” Fischbach said. Continue reading »

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