In Part III, I predicted that 2012 would be a pivotal one for Low Energy Nuclear Fusion (LENR or Cold Fusion as some still prefer). I must now concede that this did not happen but there are strong indications that an obvious tipping point will come this year and perhaps in only a matter of weeks from now!

That is because, late last year, Andrea Rossi submitted his eCat, in both its low and high temperature forms, to a panel of 11 Professors and Experts (his words). Their final report was steadily delayed to the extent that we “Rossi watchers” began to despair but, just the other day, via the excellent E-Cat World site, Rossi made a very positive statement . As you’ll see, it is all in capitals which is the Internet equivalent of shouting from the rooftops – at least a more acceptable form of “Eureka Moment” than an Archimedes-like streak!

So, once the corresponding reports do get published in peer – reviewed journals and the mainstream media finally take notice, it might at last be time to break out the champagne. The primary toast would be have to be to Rossi himself, and the second to the late Martin Fleischmann and the now rather reclusive Stanley Pons. But, as we have been noting in this series, there are many other people, past and present, who have contributed and are continuing to contribute to this whole new era in green energy.

Indeed, there is still a vast amount of associated work to be done. A broad and detailed overview of LENR and one that its author, Tyler van Hougwelingan, is frequently updating is presented in the LENR Proof site. From this and an similar sources, it is clear that there is still no comprehensive theory of LENR. Leading contenders like the Widom-Larsen theory still contain loose ends. Even so, the theory’s co-founder, Lewis Larsen, a leading proponent of the theory that lightning and solar flares can produce low energy neutrons and therefore induce transmutation in nearby elements, has since raised the stakes further and now suggests that LENR reactions may be taking place in standard compact flourescent lightbulbs!

But, now that the fact of LENR – at least in terms of its anomalous heat – is beyond dispute in all but the most diehard circles and LENR based devices are almost ready to buy, a definite psychological barrier to the theory’s full exploration might have been broken. To see what I mean, consider the first four minute mile. Right up to Roger Bannister’s famous race at Oxford, nearly 60 years ago, many commentators, including scientists considered it to be physiologically impossible but, once broken, it became a comparatively commonplace event.

The real barrier had been Psychological. So, on broadly similar grounds,  I contend that, once the majority of Chemists and Physicists concede that LENR is real, there will be a tidal wave of serious, well funded, theoretical and experimental work which will rapidly produce a comprehensive theory of LENR. And, armed with that theory, engineers and technicians will quickly be able to design and optimize the new generations of eCats or whatever name they end up with (“Quantum Fusion Devices” certainly sounds catchy).

So, if LENR does, indeed, “take off”, what will be the consequences for the wider world? Enormous!! Coal fired power stations will be steadily converted to run on LENR and so become the cleanest electricity sources on the planet! In fact, this is the central plank of  Brillouin’s commercial strategy – basically to “shoot the elephants first” – and it cannot be faulted. Better than this, nuclear fission power stations will also be rapidly phased out. Oil and gas burning ones might take longer to disappear. All this will be able to slow, stop and eventually reverse Global Warming – providing the latter is still considered wise in the light of ongoing Climate research.

At the other end of the LENR scale, however, I predict that it may be quite some time before the average household is allowed to have an eCat in the basement because, while the above large and medium-sized new and converted power stations will be monitored and serviced by trained specialists 24/7, any mostly unattended home versions would first need to be pass long and rigorous testing by the authorities – and rightly so. Actually, the large scale stations could double as testing laboratories of LENR well into the future.

On the sea and in the air, military use of LENR will, no doubt, precede civilian use for quite some time – again to help establish the many thousands of hours testing that any new system like this should rightly receive.

So, yes, we may soon witness the beginning of a new era in world history! But, in the meantime, let’s just hope that, this time, we won’t see a repeat of the 1989 “Cinderella Moment”. Fingers and toes crossed, please!

P W Power