Hi Matt, The general expectation among Rossi supporters is that he is going to supply the world with a super fuel. Among his detractors the general expectation is that he is engaged in fraud. However, I take Rossi 's ambiguous remarks as hint to his supporters that their expectations need an adjustment . With this in mind, I think the expectations which inform research into "cold fusion" phenomena also need an adjustment .
In broad terms, there are three domains of energy research: Energy production, energy storage and energy conversion. The view of the nucleus as a super fuel places it in the research domain of energy production. This view underwrites the claims of "excess heat" every time an anomalous heat effect occurs. Every claim of "excess heat" is a claim of energy gain, but it is assumed that the energy used during the _ preparation _ of the experiment is irrelevant to the claim of energy gain. However, I think the preoccupation with "excess heat" has been blinding us to the true significance of the anomalies. The anomalies point to new forms of energy storage and conversion instead of a new form of energy production. Furthermore, if the overriding aim of all nuclear energy research is to give humanity a super fuel then the values of the fossil fuel age will just continue under a different name with a different set of environmentally unsustainable practices. In order to let go of the fossil fuel age a new energy role for the very small needs to be imagined that doesn't involve energy production. (This critique applies to all the variants of the hydrino hypothesis as well.) Harry On Sat, Feb 20, 2016 at 6:41 PM, Mats Lewan <m...@matslewan.se> wrote: > Harry, regarding heat into electricity conversion, Professor Eli > Yablonovitch of the University of California seems to be doing some > interesting stuff, as a side effect of having found a way to throw out > photons with sub bandgap energy from photovoltaics. > > I’ve seen some hints, like this poster from last year: > http://www.zeplerinstitute.ac.uk/sites/www.zeplerinstitute.ac.uk/files/yablonovitch_lecture_poster_web_0.pdf > > "Thus the effort to reflect band-edge luminescence in solar cells has > serendipitously created the technology to reflect all infrared wavelengths, > which can revolutionize thermo-photovoltaics. We have never before had such > high rear reflectivity for sub-bandgap radiation, permitting step-function > spectral control of the unused infrared photons for the first time. This > enables conversion from heat[iii] to electricity with >50% efficiency. Such > a lightweight “engine” can provide power to electric cars, aerial vehicles, > spacecraft, homes, and stationary power plants.” > > I couldn’t find the full paper though. > > Mats > www.animpossibleinvention.com > > > > On 20 Feb 2016, at 19:30, H LV <hveeder...@gmail.com> wrote: > > A typical goal of energy conversion is to convert heat into electricity and > to do it as efficiently as possible. However, if the goal is to convert > electricity into heat the issue of efficiency also arises. > > > An LED is efficient at converting electricity into light but it is > inefficient at converting electricity in to heat. So if you wanted heat and > only had an LED how would you make it more efficient at producing heat? > > Harry > >
