Is Cold Fusion Entering the Final Stages? (From Oilprice.com)

I think the following article by Brian Westenhaus republished by permission from oilprice.com gives a good overview of the current state of play in the world of cold fusion. The author notes, as many others have, the change in communication mode by Andrea Rossi who has become a lot more measured in his statements about the E-Cat recently — which could be seen as a good indication that a more disciplined corporate organization is in charge now.

The University of Missouri hosted this years International Conference on Cold Fusion (ICCF) with the largest event being the Defkalion Demonstration.  The short description is the Defkalion reactor functioned satisfactorily.

The ICCF ran over five days with an impressive group of experimentalists, theorists and engineers attending.  The list of presenters was also impressive, with talks of research from across the planet, involving many nations and reaching deep into the science of Cold Fusion and Low Energy Nuclear Reactions or LENR

Yet there remains no conclusive theory that can be demonstrated experimentally.  This is the most exasperating fact that keeps the skeptics fully armed.

But the names and the information with the results are getting past the skepticism.  The past year has seen more results in plain view from Dr. Celani, interest from institutions such as CERN and the continuous updating from Andrea Rossi.

The Defkalion demo lasted several hours.  In contrast to the Rossi effort that is hardly concerned at all with the science as he is sure himself that his reactor is working well the Defkalion folks are very concerned with getting the science right, partly in order to produce the best possible product.

The first video is a shortened version that runs about an hour.  Keep in mind it is an observation video, not an information construction so there are a lot of ‘empty’ minutes as the demonstration runs.

The second video is far more complete.  It’s the official video, and the demo runs over 3 ½ hours.  There are several other videos on the livestream page and if you’re patient and take notes most all skeptical questions and concerns have answers provided.

The results are the reactor performed satisfactorily.   The was a glitch, in order to do the live demo for ICCF the Defkalion reactor was started with some of the flushing argon gas still inside.  The effect was a 3 fold power increase instead of the hoped for 4 fold power result.

Now for the discerning and capable a huge body of new information with the presentations and posters can be accessed at “MOSpace” the University of Missouri’s digital repository, by searching for specific authors, titles, or ICCF.  Perhaps over time this new data will make it to Jed Rothwell’s library online at LENR-CANR.org.

Lots of people still like to throw the scam bombs and make other desultory comments. But for now the body of evidence, the depth and breadth of experimental data and the oncoming commercial offerings are getting past the silly and becoming market disruptive.

With little fanfare folks might note that Mr. Rossi has become quite less noticeable.  That may have a lot to do with a large corporate partner joining with him and imposing some corporate kinds of sense.  This too will give the skeptics some fuel, but in reality over time it is more like a fire extinguisher.

Lastly, National Instruments is still very much in the effort.  The firm is now a sponsor for the ICCF.  What a firm like that is able to see is far beyond what we will be able to find and report.  But large scientific firms don’t as a rule throw funding at causes – they always support the industries that have customers and have expectations of growth.

Cold fusion news will miss the exuberant and interesting Andrea Rossi making curious points and offering much for interest.  We’re entering the market launch phase, Defkalion is loading up the science, National Instruments is positioning for market share, partners of Mr. Rossi are applying some corporate level conduct boundaries, the science is being explored worldwide.

Cold Fusion, becoming Low Energy Nuclear Reactions, and more descriptions still to come point to an interesting moment in history when science is coming to market while we still don’t really understand what’s going on.  That in itself isn’t unique in history, but at this time with the science hubris we have to contend with attacking the new frontiers a revolutionary successful product launch from a new frontier would be very exciting indeed.