In 1989 two scientists, Fleischmann and Pons, announced that they had achieved the generation of energy greater than unity, so called anomalous heat, through a reaction that everyone assumed was cold fusion. The announcement was premature, perhaps made due to pressure from the University of Utah. The problem was that the reaction was so poorly understood that scientists who tried to replicate the experiment had no idea what was vital to the success of the experiment and they failed. Worse, the politics of funding intervened and MIT first supported then retracted its support. To this day MIT speaks with two minds on the subject.
There are serious scientists who absolutely believe that the phenomenon that was announced is real and the field of research is now called Low Energy Nuclear Reactions and can be used to describe a number of reactions involving various elements. One such researcher, Andrea Rossi from Italy, has announced success with nickel and hydrogen and claims to have produced working models for generating one MW of power. The byproduct of this reaction is a little bit of copper. NASA, the Navy, MIT, Stanford Research Institute, and many others have been working in the field and are reporting results and are striving to come up with a theoretical explanation for what is happening. Conventional physics does not allow for LENR and as such this makes it difficult for classically trained physicists to suspend disbelief and to make progress.
The main stream media seems to be stuck in a hoax mode. So, seldom do you see any reference to LENR providing a solution to our future energy needs. In fact, if the technology can move forward, with or without adequate understanding of the subatomic picture, LENR is capable of providing an absolutely safe form of energy that would completely upset the energy paradigm in our world. We would move from "getting" energy to "having" energy. Abundant, inexpensive, pollution free energy that could be harnessed in situ could obviate the need for a cumbersome grid. How exciting to think that future generations might snicker at our reliance on the grid and the combustion engine. How quaint.
So the lesson here is this. Pay attention. LENR is not only real, it will have impact. And how it is controlled through the use or misuse of patents could shape our future.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
A Silver Lining
The economic clouds are gathering and the approaching storm reminds me of the "derecho" we experienced here in the mid-atlantic on the 29th of June. I have been in hurricanes, near tornadoes, inundated by tropical storms in Africa, swamped by Monsoons in Bangladesh but this was unlike any storm I have ever been in. 80 mph sustained winds with almost no rain. We will be even more surprised by the impact of what is coming over the next two years. No, it will not be as sudden as the derecho which arose out of the west in less than a minute.
We will see instead a series of events that will creep over us like a plague over days weeks and months and we will be left wondering when it all began? Did it begin in 1913 when insurance tycoons gathered in secret to craft a system (The Federal Reserve) for parking their huge cash surpluses from the life insurance craze? Did it begin when the world's currencies got pegged to the dollar At Bretton Woods? Did it begin when we started going to war using a credit card? Or should we look to the turn of the century day when the barriers between banks, insurance companies and finance institutions were illegally breached only to be validated by congress? Or did it begin with Quantitative Easing? Or QE 2? Or QE 3?
As of today, QE 3 is only a rumor and the Greeks are still accepting bailout funds, and China is still hanging in there as a major creditor and the price of gold and silver are moving sideways. Will there be a defining day in 2012 that we say this was it? Or in 2013 after the inauguration of the president? It really doesn't matter. What matters is that the day of reckoning will come and the time to start preparing for that is today.
If you take anything away from this, know this. Fiat, debt based, paper currency has no intrinsic value. None. When the mountain of debt backing it gets too large it will crash into a spiral of hyperinflation that will decimate the imagined "wealth" of most of us. I do not scorn the person who uses some of this paper money to set aside some silver or gold coin for trading in a future day.
And the American Silver Eagle coin is perhaps the very thin silver lining to the very dark cloud roiling on our horizons. Because the historic ratio of gold to silver (16) is now over 50, silver has more upside than gold. And it has industrial value in addition to a history of being viewed as money. And it has germicidal properties that make it a metal of the future where antibiotics are losing their punch. And it is priced low enough to be a more convenient means of exchange in a world where wheelbarrows are too small to haul the paper needed to buy a pair of shoes.
Perhaps a more subtle silver lining to the cloud is time. We have been given more time to prepare than many expected. Tactics are being employed (is this an election year?) that will ultimately make the crash more severe but it does give those who take heed some room to maneuver. So what are the economic steps we can take to prepare?
1. Shift assets from cash to physical assets.
2. Shift from cash to productive assets such as solar collectors, garden tools, fruit trees, etc.
3. Reduce debt. (this assumes that distancing ourselves from the system outweighs the advantage
of paying back of our debt using cheaper dollars.)
4. Reduce energy dependence by lowering consumption while creating alternative sources.
5. Lower our cost of living by lowering dependence on processed food, eating out less, reducing cable.
6. Consolidate our fleet of vehicles.
7. Cultivate community. (is moving house an option?)
We have been given more time but how much? I don't know. I am simply astounded that warning bells are going off from every tower and the people below are scurrying along as usual. Could I be simply wrong and there will be no crisis? I hope so. But as I said in my opening article, the things I do to prepare will stand to benefit within any scenario except perhaps rampant mob violence.
We will turn next to taking a look at energy.
We will see instead a series of events that will creep over us like a plague over days weeks and months and we will be left wondering when it all began? Did it begin in 1913 when insurance tycoons gathered in secret to craft a system (The Federal Reserve) for parking their huge cash surpluses from the life insurance craze? Did it begin when the world's currencies got pegged to the dollar At Bretton Woods? Did it begin when we started going to war using a credit card? Or should we look to the turn of the century day when the barriers between banks, insurance companies and finance institutions were illegally breached only to be validated by congress? Or did it begin with Quantitative Easing? Or QE 2? Or QE 3?
As of today, QE 3 is only a rumor and the Greeks are still accepting bailout funds, and China is still hanging in there as a major creditor and the price of gold and silver are moving sideways. Will there be a defining day in 2012 that we say this was it? Or in 2013 after the inauguration of the president? It really doesn't matter. What matters is that the day of reckoning will come and the time to start preparing for that is today.
If you take anything away from this, know this. Fiat, debt based, paper currency has no intrinsic value. None. When the mountain of debt backing it gets too large it will crash into a spiral of hyperinflation that will decimate the imagined "wealth" of most of us. I do not scorn the person who uses some of this paper money to set aside some silver or gold coin for trading in a future day.
And the American Silver Eagle coin is perhaps the very thin silver lining to the very dark cloud roiling on our horizons. Because the historic ratio of gold to silver (16) is now over 50, silver has more upside than gold. And it has industrial value in addition to a history of being viewed as money. And it has germicidal properties that make it a metal of the future where antibiotics are losing their punch. And it is priced low enough to be a more convenient means of exchange in a world where wheelbarrows are too small to haul the paper needed to buy a pair of shoes.
Perhaps a more subtle silver lining to the cloud is time. We have been given more time to prepare than many expected. Tactics are being employed (is this an election year?) that will ultimately make the crash more severe but it does give those who take heed some room to maneuver. So what are the economic steps we can take to prepare?
1. Shift assets from cash to physical assets.
2. Shift from cash to productive assets such as solar collectors, garden tools, fruit trees, etc.
3. Reduce debt. (this assumes that distancing ourselves from the system outweighs the advantage
of paying back of our debt using cheaper dollars.)
4. Reduce energy dependence by lowering consumption while creating alternative sources.
5. Lower our cost of living by lowering dependence on processed food, eating out less, reducing cable.
6. Consolidate our fleet of vehicles.
7. Cultivate community. (is moving house an option?)
We have been given more time but how much? I don't know. I am simply astounded that warning bells are going off from every tower and the people below are scurrying along as usual. Could I be simply wrong and there will be no crisis? I hope so. But as I said in my opening article, the things I do to prepare will stand to benefit within any scenario except perhaps rampant mob violence.
We will turn next to taking a look at energy.
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