The extensive report just published about LENR by the Swedish energy research organization Elforsk raises an important question. Why should Elforsk, when there is still so much doubt and skepticism about LENR in the mainstream of academia and the media, spend so much time and effort chronicling the history and current developments in the LENR field?
To my mind the answer seems to be that Elforsk must be at least reasonably convinced that there is something behind the LENR phenomenon to write a report like this. Certainly they do not set out to prove the case for LENR, and they pepper the report with the caveat that this all could be wishful thinking, but still they have done groundbreaking work in their industry here, and no doubt this report will spread to others in the utility industry beyond the borders of Sweden.
In fact Vattenfall, the giant Swedish power company which employs Margaretha Engström, one of the researchers who wrote the report, operates in Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands and the UK — and it is highly possible that this report is being studied at the highest levels within the company. Certainly if more positive news comes out when the current E-Cat tests are finally reported the news will spread throughout the company and beyond.
The report does a very thorough job of documenting a wide range of research and activity in the field of LENR, and could now be considered one of the most important reviews of the LENR literature that has been published to date. I do hope that at some point a complete translation in English is available.
It is wise for Elforsk to be non committal regarding LENR. If something goes wrong, they have cover, and they don’t want to be seen as pumping something that many people in their industry see as impossible, or fraudulant. But the publication of a report taking LENR very seriously puts them in a strong position of leadership in the energy industry, and may give them some advantage in working out commercial deals with Rossi and Co. if and when the E-Cat is ready for commercialization.
