There’s an interesting YouTube video that was published on June 30 by a organization called Phonon Energy in which the company’s CEO, David Daggett, introduces his company and discusses plans to work with Seattle University in the field of cold fusion/LENR on developing a prototype boiler.
He covers a little of the history of cold fusion’s beginnings with Pons and Fleischmann, and says that recent research has shown that the anomalous heat effect can be reproduced consistently — and this has spurred him to start working in LENR.
Also featured in the video is Dr. Teodora Shuman, Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Seattle University who discusses their interest in the field.
Daggett says that Phonon Energy will start its work by removing a burner from a commercial boiler and replacing it with an LENR heat source. According to the video Seattle University students will be involved in helping with the R&D process.
Phonon Energy’s web site is still under construction, but there is an Investor Relations page which provides some information about the company. It says that they are applying for 501(c)3 status, which is a nonprofit public charity under US law.
I have to say I like Daggett’s attitude about putting the past in the past, and not getting caught up in the controversies that happened 25 years ago. This looks like a serious effort to try and work on a practical level with LENR.
Thanks to David Nygren of E-Cat Forum for sharing the link with me.
UPDATE: Thanks to Alainco for spotting this from the Investor Relations page: “A spin off company could later be created to leverage the new knowhow and allow investment by VC firms in order to design new applications and also purchase the license rights from Defkalion to the N. American market.”
Also, under the 24 month business plan.
Goals & Objectives (24 month0
- Build a retrofit device for a commercial boiler
- Perform system shakedown testing at SU* using a reactor simulator
- Remove simulator and install HENI unit at Defkalion. Perform system tests & validate
- Install the prototype boiler system in an operating environment and perform endurance testing
- Prove the technology to OEM(s)
So it seems there is a connection with Defkalion here.
UPDATE 2: I found this on David Daggett’s LinkedIn page:
“After being a skeptic for 7 years about LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reaction) technology, I started taking nuclear engineering classes and also witnessing small LENR unit lab tests. I now realize that this technology will make fossil fuels obsolete and can provide affordable energy to the world. I’m devoting the rest of my working career to enabling it.”
I wonder if those tests were done at the Defkalion lab. Seattle is not far from Vancouver.
