Sterling,

I don’t remember reading your response to the NEM questionnaire? Anyway, as a good intro into my view of what’s happening with the FE movement and what must be done, you can read my comments to the NEM questionnaire here: http://zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=20

A few recent partially-successful stories made it clear for me what must be done to get the FE movement out of the current gridlock.

• NASA’s BPP (Breakthrough Propulsion Physics) showed that science is desperate for new, breakthrough ideas and willing to at least “consider” the wildest new concepts in physics (propulsion was the main theme but I see no difference if the energy would be the subject). Also, the number of “proposals” submitted and the great diversity of those who participated proved to me that most of the “out of the box” serious thinkers and inventors are not afraid to come forward, if they think academic science is willing to seriously look at their ideas.

• Steorn saga proved undeniably that a working O/U prototype and a smart, widely publicized challenge to science to disprove it, is all you need to get conventional scientist, major mass media and the public to pay attention (given the current sensitivity around the energy, peak oil, global warming, etc. topics). The Fleischmann-Pons cold-fusion fiasco shows exactly what NOT to do when challenging academic science (and as we know cold-fusion effect is real – there were international conferences on the topic every year since 1989 – but the challenge was premature … even today, the best cells have a “will of their own”, a way to characterize the uncontrollability of the phenomenon).

So, the first thing to do is finding ONE WORKING O/U prototype (from the few reasonable claims out there that we all are aware of) and convince its inventor(s) to help change the world as we know it. There are alleged working O/U devices that are generating almost kW level of excess power (consistently, they claim). This, in my opinion, should be the primary task for the NEC/NEM, which should be perfectly capable of accomplishing it (with the current resources).

Once we have secured the cooperation of at least ONE such inventor (under the terms I’ll mention below) we need to find a smart way to involve the mainstream science for necessary credibility, the major media for world wide coverage (and indirect protection against possible attempts of suppression), the business community and the general public for moral, legal and financial support. And here is how to do that:

• Create an international nonprofit organization, such as my proposed Xtreme Science Foundation (XSF), with the main purpose to carry out independent, objective, unbiased and widely accepted scientific validation of "private research" in the field of new energy technologies, research that most of the present scientific community and media would otherwise consider an unacceptable departure from the conventional thinking. This foundation should consist of qualified skeptics and believers alike, from all over the world. Steorn mentioned that out of the 5000 who answered their challenge, 500 were qualified scientists. So, there should be no shortage of applicants for membership in an organization that would do for “energy technologies” what BPP did for propulsion physics (pls note, XSF, for now, would not focus on theory as much as on existing inventor technologies validation, just like with Steorn). Once a working O/U device is identified, it would be enough of a lure for the scientists to take the challenge and enroll in the foundation to test it. Certainly, our goal is to have scientists from all over the world joining the foundation since we expect similar devices to pop up in many parts of the world, once everybody gains confidence in the foundation’s noble scope, fairness and professional integrity (for credibility, we need a few recognized names to form the foundation’s management committee, not difficult to accomplish if the project is presented properly by people with good communication skills - and we have lots of such people in NEC/NEM, including you Sterling ;-).

• The foundation (say XSF) will also reward through a significant monetary prize (say XS-NRG Prize) and promote those revolutionary technologies that will prove to be viable and can significantly contribute to the betterment of humanity and the planet. Again, if well designed and implemented, the foundation could attract enormous funds (see below how) and the prize will be a powerful incentive for those inventors still in doubt (together with the clear & fair conditions for participation in the contest– see below).

How do you finance all that? Well, the foundation will rely on an innovative fund raising process based on participation and support from the general public, scientific institutions, and the business community, all who care about the truth, the planet and want to be perceived progressive (“open minded” ...and who doesn't?) Mind you, the fundation doesn't support, doesn't deny free energy... It will serve as an open access podium for all inventors/innovators out there to present their work for proper and honest validation and as a vehicle through which donors may reward/fund the high-quality leading-edge techno-scientific accomplishments/ research that otherwise would have great difficulty finding recognition and financial support.

The invitation to participate and support the XSF fund will go out to the public through a publicity campaign on the Internet and other mass media outlets who agree to support the initiative (with a little luck and taking advantage of favorable circumstances we can make it bigger than Steorn’s ad in the Economist). Every responsible person and organization that would like to do something to potentially influence our common destiny would want to get involved and support the XSF project, if it is CREDIBLE and there is NO RISK of loosing their pledged money.

The funds will accumulate for predetermined time duration (two years, for example) in an escrow account, managed by a reputable financial institution. If the legal conditions for awarding the XS-NRG prize money to the winner(s) are not met after the established time period is up, the funds will revert to their lawful owners (less some agreed upon prorated percentage to cover all approved expenses – that % will be automatically moved into a different account and will constitute foundation’s operating funds). The funds will be managed in the open, and all-important decisions will be taken in a democratic manner, based on participants input. Given the fact that many consider the chances for the prize to be won slim (if not nil) there will be little fear to pledge quite a lot of money (for “show off” reasons … “look people, if the amazing Randi put $1 million, I, Exxon Mobil Corp. will put $10 mil so, don’t say I’m only financing the anti global warming groups” … by the way, Exxon’s last quarter profit: $10 billion!). The potential for enormous funds to be accumulated in the escrow account is good, and if all contributors agree to allocate a reasonable % of that to the Foundation’s operating fund … (I leave this topic for some other time, if people will provide that “other time”).

The validation tests will be conducted by, preferably, three independent reputable laboratories (university or industrial, government and/or private) that will be selected from those willing to accept to participate in this historic, public-demanded challenge. The labs will have to agree to a testing protocol with the inventor(s), sign an NDA and agree to widely publish the results of the tests (positive or negative) soon after completion. The XSF Testing committee will designate our qualified members (NEC/NEM or others) to directly participate in the design, setup and actual testing (to avoid what happened to Newman, for example – we’ll cover the testing fees after all). The foundation must obviously have a strong legal department as well (not a problem if/when you have money ;-).

The operating fund will also cover all expenses incurred by candidates during the testing phase. Candidates will only have to agree to the wide publication of the test results (passed or failed). The inventors can each choose whether or not they want to disclose any other information about themselves and/or their technology. There are no other obligations between the inventors and the XSF administrators with respect to the future of the respective technologies (my opinion). Certainly, the successful ones will trigger a lot of interest from the outside world, and the inventors are entitled to use their newly acquired status and wealth to proceed with further development of their invention, as they see fit (XSF can help here as well … nothing wrong with that, if it is at inventor’s discretion). From what I know, the guarantee of their IP protection and the "no strings attached" are "make or break" conditions for many inventors to accept official scientific public testing. Unfortunately, some very credible inventors, may request official waiver of the Secrecy Order on their invention (from the application of the 1951 Invention Secrecy Act) and that IS a challenge (hopefully NEM with their political connections can solve).

I’ll stop here for now, hoping that I somewhat answered your question. The goal of the XSF and its XS-NRG prize is to prove or disprove to science and the general public the truth behind these extraordinary claims for breakthrough energy devices. Even with the majority of experts giving a very low probability for these claims to be true, the potential positive impact if just one of them turns out to be real is so great that we cannot afford to ignore them. Actually, given the present condition of global energy and environmental crisis we already experience, we have an urgent duty to explore the slightest chance that a claim is real. This is a “call to arms” now, because it is the right time to act; the time for useless talk and "top 100" lists is over, from my point of view, whether some like it or not.

Certainly, a website must be set up specifically for this project (XtremeScienceFoundation.org has been secured and is available for whoever wants to take the challenge of building it professionally – I do not have the time and the pro skills required). General information, media promos, the information and the necessary forms for registering a pledge/contribution, or for a candidate inventor to register a device for testing will be available on this site. The website should allow the world to see who were solicited for support, and their responses (I think this is something that would make all “public” entities think twice before refusing). Foundation’s members, management committee and their working groups from all over the world, testing labs, etc should all be listed there. Monitoring of the accumulated funds, who contributed and how much, details on fund expenses, etc. should also be public domain. This will provide the transparency and public trust, which are key to the success of such an activity.

Anyway, since you‘ve asked Sterling, this is in a nutshell what I proposed to New Energy Movement NEM to think about (Steve Kaplan has the doc with more details, but I haven’t heard back from him yet – NEM’s views on what constitutes revolutionary energy technologies that we should dedicate most of our time to bring forward, are much closer to mine than yours – that’s why I gave the proposal to them first). Now I’m asking the NEC to think about this proposal since it is perfectly doable with the people, talents and the connections its members have. You can very well spearhead this Sterling, if you want, since you have the passion for the FE topic, the time and the talent/skills (organizational and communication) necessary for such a task. But do you (all) have the will to finally crack the FE riddle and uncover the truth about this almost ancient “myth”, whatever this truth is (disappointing or liberating)?

Vlad

P.S. The Steorn validation results would generate enough media buzz that it would create an ideal platform for the XSF to be launched, don’t you think so? There is not much time left, but it can still be done!