I had wondered earlier this year whether the news of LENR would hit the mainstream during this US election cycle, but it doesn’t appear that it will be a topic that will come up in any campaigns this time around. The Popular Science story on Rossi and the E-Cat is the closest thing we have seen to what could be considered mainstream media coverage, but from all accounts (haven’t seen it yet — checking my library daily) it is an inconclusive and cautious article which raises the usual questions about Rossi and the E-Cat, but provides no real conclusion.
I watched much of the US Presidential debate this evening and couldn’t help wondering how different things might have been if the candidates had been aware of the breaking E-Cat and LENR story. There was plenty of discussion about energy in terms of costs, security of supply, and jobs in the energy sector. Oil, gas, coal, and traditional alternatives came up, but unsurprisingly nothing about a technology that could turn out to be the most significant scientific and economic issue of our age.
It seems likely to me, however, that whoever is the next president of the United States, or whoever is in position of power in any nation, will sooner or later have to deal with the reality of a new energy source that could turn the world on its head, and make possible a new economic and political reality.
If the E-Cat, or any another powerful LENR source, is verified conclusively and becomes common knowledge, it seems to me that it will lead to a period of intense debate in the public arena, with competing entities trying to protect their own interests, and the general public appealing for access to cheap and secure energy. It could cause a lot of headaches for politicians who currently have fairly stable bases of support.
So we may not hear cold fusion mentioned on the stump this time around, but maybe in four years things could be quite different.
