cold fusion, quantum physics, foosball

Energy scams have been around as long as I can remember, some promising to deliver a simple increase in fuel economy, others more elaborate and outlandish. And every few years or so, a new inventor will unveil the latest incarnation of the "perpetual motion" machine. They come and go, most failing the smell test long before any real money changes hands.

So, when I read this press release from Blacklight Power, I began to wish I had paid more attention to my Physics professor all those many years ago at Mississippi State. Of course, it was at this same time that I discovered Foosball and draft beer at the Crossroads. All of which goes to explain why I majored in Business instead of Engineering.

Last week, Blacklight Power announced that it had built a prototype reactor capable of generating 50 kilowatts of energy, for the ridiculously low cost of one cent per kilowatt-hour. Cold fusion redux? I don't know.

Blacklight Power doesn't claim to violate the laws of physics -- instead, it claims to rewrite them:

Randy Booker, a physics professor at the University of North Carolina, and another faculty member have been evaluating the technology since 2005, and have been to the Blacklight Power lab in NJ several times to validate the process.

“They put in energy, and the yield is about 50% more than what they’re putting in. I’ve also validated their scientific methods, and it seems like they’re doing everything right, from the measurements to procedures.” He adds: It’s nothing small or miniscule, it’s very obvious.” What Mills has come up with is a “new, revolutionary theory” that can go beyond quantum physics, Booker concluded.

"Mills" is Dr. Randell Mills, a Harvard MD, who founded Blacklight Power.

Chris Morrison has a nice writeup at Venture Beat, as well as linkage to some of the more technical data as provided by Blacklight Power, which, halfway into the second line, I was thinking about Foosball.