The past few days have seen the Rossi E-Cat reported in both news and blogs, with still no definitive answer if the device actually works.  The process of introducing the device to the market is stirring up lots of controversy.

So, how does one decide if the device is for real or not?  Go to Bologna with money in hand and buy one.  If you need heat production cheap that’s a palatable answer.  Chances are you will get what you paid for.

This does not stop the controversy.  The story now is the controversy itself.  Some, one Stephen Krivits who is now out in front, are making claims that seem every bit as misleading as a fraudster’s.  That sort of personal choice is using an earned station to attract more attention.  There should be a calculated risk in Krivits’ position – that a proof of E-Cat failure would bring some appreciation, or that a success would bring derision.  Without personal acquaintance with Krivits one cannot know the motivation.  A certainty is Krivits opinion isn’t better informed than anyone else, thus his opinion is worthless.

Al Fin, Bless ‘em, said, “It is fascinating that so many people want to put themselves on record on either one side or the other, when the obvious rational thing for most people — most outsiders — to do is to wait for more information. Unless you have money or reputation on the line here, there is no need to declare a strong opinion one way or the other — if you have no inside knowledge.”

The closely watching reporters are offering news that Mr. Rossi has sold more units.  The buyer’s names are also being kept quiet.  Whether or not the sales have consummated is of little consequence, what matters are the E-Cats get installed, run and after a few months the customers are happy.  Obviously customers are not looking for public relations expenses dealing with hounding questioners, they seek low cost heat.  There will be plenty of time later to bask in leadership to a new energy economy.  When the credibility threshold is mounted, a company will want to be there with an E-Cat system running.

There is also the prospect that some firms will buy an E-Cat both for the leadership opportunity as well as the energy savings.  That sets up the prospect that the definitive proof won’t come from Rossi or a proponent – we may hear of a firm whose E-Cat experience meets or exceeds that original specification.  Perhaps that will accompany a new lower priced better product.

That kind of scenario isn’t going to make world headlines.  It will sell lots of E-Cats, which is the whole point.  Customers will be a step closer to more cost competitive goods, and the competition will have to adapt.

All this simply puts facility managers, planners and designers on notice.  What those folks need to get done is to get on the list at Rossi’s firm and start the process of getting past the defensive wall there to be on the inside for the due diligence needed for assessing the risks and costs for buying an E-Cat for a plant.   Heaven forbid a competitor getting one first, especially if the process heat an E-Cat makes is a major cost in production expense.

There is little prospect that there will be a major world headline one day that says “The Rossi E-Cat Works!”

But there is getting to be very high probabilities that one day soon we’ll be able to buy stuff made with E-Cats providing the manufacturing energy.

The greatest interest is the one-megawatt E-Cat specifications.  That would do more than anything to push the progress along. We’ll need to know a lot more than making one megawatt, what the temps are, the state of the heat, the rates, required supplies, and all the other bits that make an informed decision.

That’s what to look for.  And your humble writer is very interested in seeing them.


Comments

10 Comments so far

  1. Craig Binns on November 2, 2011 12:10 AM

    “The closely watching reporters are offering news that Mr. Rossi has sold more units.  The buyer’s names are also being kept quiet.  Whether or not the sales have consummated is of little consequence, what matters are the E-Cats get installed, run and after a few months the customers are happy.”

    Ah, we have to wait another “few months” (How many months?) and then estimate how much happier some unknown people have become, whose names are being concealed from us.

    Wow, thanks. That gets rid of my scepticism – I don’t think!

    Some energy revolution this is turning out to be.

  2. Brian Westenhaus on November 2, 2011 1:49 AM

    R i g h t, Craig. Rossi seems to spend little time on press, media, blogs and academics. Its a b u s i n e s s model. Working the model is the strongest confidence builder for those who can pay. You see, you and I don’t matter, skeptic or not, we’re not in the market for 1MW of heat.

    Another point, the best revolutions aren’t noticed until its too late.

    Rossi seems to be a fine businessman and a damn poor fraudster.

    But if there was a patent all this wouldn’t be happening this way.

    You might give some thought to how the world works before condemning Mr. Rossi.

    For intelligent observers, Rossi looks to doing this the right way.

    BW

  3. Matt Musson on November 2, 2011 8:14 AM

    It is important to remember that few Americans really believed the Wright Brothers actually built a flying machine – until it flew over Washington DC.

    My great grandmother told me a story of how her family had the only electric lights in their town and people would come from miles around to watch her turn the porch light
    on at dusk. She said that people didn’t understand what electricity was but the flick of the switch convinced them that it worked, was real and very useful.

  4. Andre G on November 2, 2011 5:47 PM

    What people are not acknowledging is that this path to market is the same path that Bloom Energy took.

    Discovery, then Secrecy, take in some private capital, sell several working products to customers, and then in time a media expose. Then churn out products bigger and more improved after live testing.

  5. BFast on November 2, 2011 8:43 PM

    On nickelpower I argue that the fact that the e-cat has kept changing during subsequent demos is strong proof that Rossi is not a scammer. If he’s not a scammer, the only other realistic option at this point is that the technology is basically for real. See http://nickelpower.org/2011/11/02/a-case-for-rossi/

  6. guido on November 3, 2011 11:51 AM

    Is it correct to say that most of the scientists and experts who personally witnessed several ecat tests recognize that the ecat produces excess heat? If the answer is yes, then mr.Rossi has something to sell. Since he’s not a scientist, he doesn’t care much how this happens as far as it happens.

  7. Craig Binns on November 4, 2011 2:00 AM

    Brian, you tell us, “Another point, the best revolutions aren’t noticed until its too late.” Too late for what? Perhaps too late to get your money in first, and maximise your profit. But that’s not what we are discussing. The sequential introductions of steam engines, electric motors and internal combustion engines were easy enough to “notice”. All these things were promptly patented, marketed to the general public, and at once made available for casual inspection, like the electric light in Matt Musson’s great-grandmother’s porch which maybe people couldn’t UNDERSTAND but they could plainly SEE.

    In this context your “you and I don’t matter, skeptic or not, we’re not in the market for 1MW of heat” makes little sense. First, we do matter. As consumers we are the end purchasers of these MWs of power. Second, I want to know who has bought the plant, where it is, what it’s doing and so on. The same things I would want to know about a diesel or hydro generator, before deciding whether it existed or not. The fact that I am not directly “in the market” for one is entirely irrelevant.

    Rossi supposedly has had HUNDREDS of e-cats under test, and (or have you forgotten?) been heating a factory using one of them over a period of a year. And still we don’t know even if the thing works! This situation is preposterous. Krivit says it’s a fake, and he’s clearly right. In the free energy field fakes and delusions are totally dominant.

    What about the Defkalion fiasco, with grandiose promises coming to nothing? What about Rossi’s criminal record of energy scams and gold smuggling? And now this bizarre “secret purchaser” who adds absolutely nothing to the credibility of Rossi’s project, is produced just in time to enable Rossi to claim he’s met the October deadline. And still people contort their minds in a vain effort to find reasons, however flimsy, to carry on believing.

  8. Predrag Raos on November 6, 2011 1:24 AM

    Rossi’s problem is that his invention is basically unpatentable or at least easily copy-catiable. You can’t patent a reaction, and forbid the use of the host of similar ones to boot. So he tries to skim as much money as possible till the competition rolls over him. If there is a scheme, then this is a bussiness scheme, and very reasonable at that.

  9. Craig Binns on November 6, 2011 4:02 AM

    “easily copy-catiable”

    Nobody has succeeded in explaining it, let alone copying it!

    Why are things that can be copied unpatentable, anyway? Nothing easier than copying a Watt separate condenser steam engine, but the inventor patented it all the same.

  10. Benjamin Cole on November 6, 2011 2:49 PM

    I approach this as a financial reporter who has covered innumerable money-raising scams.

    This smells like a scam. All the trademarks.

    Mystification, delay and obfuscation.

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