One Week after the E-Cat Report, the Story Awaits Final Resolution

It’s been over a week now since the publication of the Lugano E-Cat report, and we’ve had lots of discussion and analysis here and elsewhere about the results that have been reported.

If people were expecting the world in general to finally open its eyes and accept that LENR/Cold Fusion is a new and superior energy source, I expect they have been disappointed. We have seen that there has been at best a muted reception to the report by the world’s media, and most critics of the E-Cat are still in the same camp, even after this new report, raising various objections.

I think there has been some new interest in LENR generated by the report, and it seems that many people, according to the poll running here on ECW, have an increased level of confidence in the validity of the E-Cat. Traffic stats here at E-Cat World show that there are at least twice as many users visiting the site as before the release of the report — but that traffic is variable, and could drop off over time. But I think the audience of people paying attention to this story is still relatively small.

What will it take for a general acceptance of LENR’s reality? I think Andrea Rossi is right. He has always said that only a product working in the market will change the views of critics, and cause widespread attention. Today on the Journal of Nuclear Physics, Rossi repeated his position:

The 1 MW plant in the factory of the Customer should be the first stone of the commercial breakthrough, and a commercial breakthrough resolves all the discussions: in the late seventies the “experts” used to say that the idea to produce computers for “housewifes” was ridiculous and technologically impossible. Whatever they are saying now is totally insignificant, as well as what they said in the past.
The Sword will annichilate them.

It sounds like we will have another wait ahead of us when it comes to seeing this plant. Rossi is talking about at least a year, so E-Cat watchers will be back in a familiar holding pattern of waiting.

One thing that I think could get some more attention would be if someone were to carry out a successful replication of something similar to the E-Cat. I know there are some efforts underway in this area — Elforsk says they will begin research into LENR, and the Martin Fleischmann Memorial Project are discussing a replication effort — and perhaps some that we are not aware of. There are more clues to work with following the release of this report, but still no straightforward instruction. But smart persistent people with curious minds (and time and money), could make a breakthrough here.

So the story continues without a full conclusion. My own response to the test is that it is another piece of evidence in favor of the E-Cat, but I cannot hold it forward as ‘proof’ that the technology works, even if I am personally convinced that it does. In some ways I am glad that there will not be yet another public third party E-Cat report (according to what Rossi has said). The wait is always tedious, and there is always plenty to debate over. And once the test is done, it’s done. The way these tests are set up, there’s no way for the testers to go back to the lab and re-check something, since they are reliant upon Rossi/Industrial Heat for the reactors.

I hope the next E-Cat that will be revealed will be the one operating in the factory of Rossi’s customer.