|
⇐ Previous Article — Table of Contents
New Energy Times home page
SCIENCE AND ENERGY NEWS
Click on any headline to read the entire article.
The Italian Hawking Dreams of Cold Fusion
By Laura Anello
La Stampa (Italy)
January 2, 2010
X-Ray Laser Resurrects a Laboratory No Longer in the Vanguard
By Kenneth Chang
The New York Times
Monday, July 5, 2010
In the first experiments conducted at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, Calif., since its outdated particle accelerator was converted into the world’s brightest X-ray laser, scientists managed to create what they called hollow atoms, giving just a preview of the kind of science expected to be done there. At high X-ray energies, the two innermost electrons, rather than the less tightly bound outer electrons, were knocked out first, as if peeling an onion from the inside out.
After the inner electrons are removed, the remaining electrons then successively drop into the empty spaces only to be bumped out, too, as X-ray photons slam into them. The findings appear in the current issue of the journal Nature. Another team led by scientists at Western Michigan University reported similar results last month in Physical Review Letters in the bombarding of nitrogen molecules.
(article continues)
Con-Ed Nerve Center Fights to Keep Lights On
By Patrick McGeehan
The New York Times
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
From the 19th floor of Consolidated Edison’s headquarters in Manhattan, generators were dispatched to supplement a burning substation. Emergency alerts were relayed to major customers and companies. The go-ahead was given to cancel Little League night games on Staten Island to conserve the wattage used by field lights.
Con Edison, with an ability that might strike some as Big Brother-like, even exercised its ability to periodically shut off central air-conditioning units in some 20,000 homes and businesses to ease the burden on its system.
The scene inside Con Ed’s command center showed both the urgency of the utility’s efforts, and the nature of its reach — this was one of the few times it has adjusted residential thermostats from afar — as it struggled to cope with another record-setting day of heat and demand.
(article continues)
Europe-based Fusion Project Draws Heat Over Funding
By Eben Harrell
Time / Ecocentric blog
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
There is probably no more sorry field of clean energy research than fusion. The quest to harness the power of the sun—without carbon emissions—has long attracted quixotic dreamers, amateur fusioneers and straight hucksters.
But by its own, low standards, fusion research is in a sorry state. The only large, serious, potentially viable project—the multinational International Thermonuclear Experimental Research Reactor (Iter) in France—has been beset by budgeting issues since it was first conceived at a Geneva summit in 1985. Facing another cash crisis, EU member states decided yesterday that they will have to dip into the European Union's budget—including money usually used to finance other scientific research—to keep the project going.
(article continues)
A Nuclear Reactor in Every Home?
By Ed M. Koziarski
Chicago Reader
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Chicago entrepreneur Lewis Larsen claims a small device could power your house, diminish fossil fuel use, even shift the global balance of power. But to get it made, he must persuade investors to look past one of science's most embarrassing scandals.
The device Lewis Larsen plans to build is about the size of a microwave oven. He figures it will sell for less than a conventional home furnace. The fuel—small amounts of lithium and hydrogen—will be cheaper too. Two of these devices, he says, could supply all the heat and electricity needs of a 2,500-3,000-square-foot single-family home without generating greenhouse gases, dangerous radiation, or nuclear waste, reducing gas heating costs by 90 percent and electric costs by 10 to 20 percent.
(article continues)
Warm Welcome for Cold Fusion at Home
By Deccan Chronicle Correspondent
Deccan Chronicle (India)
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Soon households will have tiny and inexpensive power generators that will neither give out polluting smoke nor need messy maintenance. ‘Cold fusion boxes’, demonstrated successfully by the pioneers of this safe fusion technology, is all set to storm homes.
“Even a middle-class Indian home can afford one as a domestic unit could be priced as low as ` 1,00,000 to generate power in the range of 10 to 100 KW sufficient for a small family of five,” a scientist, who has been closely associated with the cold fusion technology, told Deccan Chronicle.
(article continues)
Ancient Italian Town Has Wind at Its Back
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
The New York Times
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
TOCCO DA CASAURIA, Italy — The towering white wind turbines that rise ramrod straight from gnarled ancient olive groves here speak to something extraordinary happening across Italy.
Faced with sky-high electricity rates, small communities across a country known more for garbage than environmental citizenship are finding economic salvation in making renewable energy. More than 800 Italian communities now make more energy than they use because of the recent addition of renewable energy plants, according to a survey this year by the Italian environmental group Legambiente.
(article continues)
Cold Science Heats Up
By T.J. Greaney
Columbia (Mo.) Tribune
Saturday, October 9, 2010
For a group of Israeli scientists, 64 has become a magic number.
That's because it was the 64th trial of an experiment that yielded results that, they hope, will one day change the world.
Six years ago on a Sunday morning in a laboratory in Omer, Israel, researchers walked in to find that something extraordinary had happened. Water they'd left at room temperature two days earlier had boiled for more than five hours.
[includes comments by S.B. Krivit and response by Tribune editor/publisher]
(article continues)
Moonlighting as a Conjurer of Chemicals
By Natalie Angier
The New York Times
Monday, October 11, 2010
Sir Isaac Newton was a towering genius in the history of science, he knew he was a genius, and he didn’t like wasting his time...
No, it wasn’t easy being Newton. Not only did he hammer out the universal laws of motion and gravitational attraction, formulating equations that are still used today to plot the trajectories of space rovers bound for Mars; and not only did he discover the spectral properties of light and invent calculus. Sir Isaac had a whole other full-time career, a parallel intellectual passion that he kept largely hidden from view but that rivaled and sometimes surpassed in intensity his devotion to celestial mechanics. Newton was a serious alchemist, who spent night upon dawn for three decades of his life slaving over a stygian furnace in search of the power to transmute one chemical element into another.
(article continues)
The Promise of Fusion: Energy Miracle or Mirage?
By Alex Salkever
Yale Environment 360
Monday, October 11, 2010
In the rolling brown hills of Livermore, Calif., looms a 10-story building the size of three football fields stuffed to the rafters with lasers, mirrors, crystals, optical amplifiers, and other exotic technology. This is the National Ignition Facility (NIF), a monument to science’s enduring obsession with fusion.
The NIF is home to the latest attempt to fuse two nuclei into one in a manner that does not result in a thermonuclear explosion. Inside this massive building, the world’s largest and highest-energy laser focuses the intense energy of 192 separate laser beams into an even more intense single beam aimed at a BB-sized target filled with hydrogen fuel, with the goal of creating a tiny star by replicating the process that powers the sun and similar celestial bodies.
(article continues)
Nuclear Brains Still in Cold Shoulder Mode
By Kumar Chellappan
Deccan Chronicle (India)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
The shadow boxing between top nuclear scientists of the country was out in the open on Sunday during the silver jubilee celebrations of the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) at Kalpakkam.
Dr P.K. Iyengar, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, who played the lead role in India’s first nuclear explosion in May 1974 at Pokhran, was not even acknowledged by his successor Dr R. Chidambaram, principal scientific advisor to the Union government.
Their relations worsened after Dr Iyengar questioned Dr Chidambaram’s claims on the second nuclear explosions at Pokhran in 1998. (article continues)
Scientists May Have Found Gold in Water
By Mark Albertson
San Francisco Examiner
Monday, October 25, 2010
In a world where new sources of energy are growing increasingly more expensive and important, many researchers are looking at new ways to generate power. Now, two scientists think they have found the key to what could become a gold mine of energy generation if their work holds true.
Mark LeClair and Sergio Lebid, who run a company called NanoSpire, have been experimenting for several years on ways to generate energy from water using a process known as cavitation, the formation of vapor bubbles when liquid is placed under pressure. What makes their work so unique is that they claim they can generate a nuclear reaction using ordinary water.
(article continues)
"Ho realizzato la fusione fredda"
Annuncio choc del fisico Focardi
By Marco Picato
il Resto del Carlino (Italy)
Thursday, January 13, 2011
È UNA CHIMERA della scienza da decenni. Un sogno chiamato fusione nucleare fredda. Il team di fisici dell'Università di Bologna, capitanati dal professor Sergio Focardi, ha annunciato di averne scoperto il segreto e ha dato appuntamento domani a un ristretto gruppo di ricercatori e giornalisti per assistere alla diretta dimostrazione. Al contrario della fissione, che 'spezza' un atomo con conseguente emissione di energia, la fusione nucleare è l'unione di due nuclei atomici che produce un terzo, nuovo, elemento con altrettanta emissione di enormi quantità di energia. È la reazione che tiene accese le stelle, la stessa che fa brillare il sole, laddove le condizioni di temperatura sono talmente estreme da permettere una fusione tra atomi. Com'è allora possibile riprodurla sulla Terra?
(article continues)
Italian scientists claim to have demonstrated cold fusion
By Lisa Zyga
physorg.com
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Despite the intense skepticism, a small community of scientists is still investigating near-room-temperature fusion reactions. The latest news occurred last week, when Italian scientists Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi of the University of Bologna announced that they developed a cold fusion device capable of producing 12,400 W of heat power with an input of just 400 W. Last Friday, the scientists held a private invitation press conference in Bologna, attended by about 50 people, where they demonstrated what they claim is a nickel-hydrogen fusion reactor. Further, the scientists say that the reactor is well beyond the research phase; they plan to start shipping commercial devices within the next three months and start mass production by the end of 2011.
(article continues)
Italian Scientists Claim (Dubious) Cold Fusion Breakthrough
By Clay Dillow
Popular Science
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Good science is always rooted in good data, but the most entertaining science is the stuff that transcends the need for data by rooting itself fantastical claims and a rejection of the idea that data is even necessary. So naturally it’s a thrill to learn that two Italian scientists claim to have successfully developed a cold fusion reactor that produces 12,400 watts of heat power per 400 watts of input. Not only that, but they’ll be commercially available in just three months. Maybe.
(article continues)
Cold Fusion Claims Resurface
By Benjamin Radford
Discovery News
Friday, January 21, 2011
Italian scientists Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi of the University of Bologna announced that they developed a cold fusion device capable of producing 12,400 W of heat power with an input of just 400 W. Last Friday, the scientists held a private invitation press conference in Bologna, attended by about 50 people, where they demonstrated what they claim is a nickel-hydrogen fusion reactor. Further, the scientists say that the reactor is well beyond the research phase; they plan to start shipping commercial devices within the next three months and start mass production by the end of 2011.
(article continues)
No, Italian scientists have not discovered cold fusion
By Alasdair Wilkins
io9
Monday, January 24, 2011
A team of Italian scientists claim to have found the holy grail of energy sources - Cold Fusion.
Two physicists recently announced they had figured out the secrets of cold fusion, which is a low energy nuclear reaction that, if it exists, could solve the world's energy problems. But to call their story fishy is a massive understatement.
(article continues)
Italian Scientists Claim to Invent Cold Fusion
By Nick Farrell
TechEye
Monday, January 24, 2011
A team of Italian scientists claim to have found the holy grail of energy sources - Cold Fusion.
Despite the intense skepticism from other boffins, a team of Italian scientists Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi of the University of Bologna announced that they developed a cold fusion device capable of producing 12,400 W of heat power with an input of just 400 W.
(article continues)
Italian Scientists Claim to Invent Cold Fusion
Malaysia Sun
Source: TechEye
Monday, January 24, 2011
A team of Italian scientists claim to have found the holy grail of energy sources - Cold Fusion.
Despite the intense skepticism from other boffins, a team of Italian scientists Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi of the University of Bologna announced that they developed a cold fusion device capable of producing 12,400 W of heat power with an input of just 400 W.
(article continues)
Italian Scientists Claim (Dubious) Cold Fusion Breakthrough
By Clay Dillow
Fox News (reprinted from Popular Science)
Monday, January 24, 2011
Good science is always rooted in good data, but the most entertaining science is the stuff that transcends the need for data by rooting itself fantastical claims and a rejection of the idea that data is even necessary. So naturally it’s a thrill to learn that two Italian scientists claim to have successfully developed a cold fusion reactor that produces 12,400 watts of heat power per 400 watts of input. Not only that, but they’ll be commercially available in just three months. Maybe.
(article continues)
Cold fusion turns hot, city to host meet
By B. Sivakumar
Times of India
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
CHENNAI: The 16th cold fusion research conference will be held in the city from February 6 to 11. Cold fusion is a theory in which some scientists claim that nuclear fusion happens in an electrolysis apparatus without the use of uranium and a nuclear reactor.
Called the International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, the meet is being organised for the first time in India. Nearly 100 international and 50 Indian scientists are expected to take part. Workshops for students and academicians will be organised on the Madras IIT campus and at SRM University during the conference.
(article continues)
Cold Fusion: Reality or Utopia?
By Boris Pavlishchev, Smirnova Viktoria
The Voice of Russia
Friday, January 28, 2011
Italian physicists Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi have invented a cold fusion reactor which fits on a table and requires no unprocurable components. According to the authors, such a device installed at a factory has been warming up water day and night over the last two years, producing 12,400 watts of heat with an input of just 400 watts.
The two physicists invited some 50 colleagues and journalists to attend their presentation in Bologna. They demonstrated a medium-sized blue box running on nickel and hydrogen, which, the scientists claim, produce energy not of chemical origin but as a result of a fusion reaction.
(article continues)
Cold Fusion Returns
By C. Cranium
Spoof!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Those scientist guys Ferrante and Telcher were famous for a brief moment when they created energy from nothing and called it Cold Fusion.
The world was amazed and anxious for the near future when energy was free. Other scientists however were delighted when a flaw was detected in the Cold Fusion experiment.
(article continues)
⇐ Previous Article — Table of Contents
| 