Coal is Toast

Although we do not actually knowhow so called cold fusion actually works and it may not be fusion at all,although I find that unlikely, we suddenly have a configuration that exploitsthe phenomena and in fact produces a massive amount of heat.  The clear existence of gamma rays supports anuclear process of some sort that we have been unable to define, not leastbecause the actual event itself and its products occur rarely within a mass ofmaterial.  It is a true needle in thehaystack problem.

In the end, this is notunexpected and was my first conjecture on hearing of the initial discoverydecades ago.  Success has come in lookingat the details and to keep working at it. 

The big news is that thisprotocol appears to be suitable for a straight forward scaling up to producehigh quality steam in a pressure chamber. Even more dramatic is that it appears to lend itself to rapidmanufacture.  At best we are looking at asimple pressure chamber to generate the high quality heat.  At worst, the reactive powder needs specialattention during fabrication.

So unless something really weirdcauses us a problem we can move to rapid and relatively inexpensive heatengines to swiftly replace all coal and Uranium based power plants.  This discovery spells the complete demise ofboth industries just as fast as we like. The only asset any of them have today is access to market share.

Once the science is a littlebetter understood, we will see a rush to increase general efficiency.  This is surely not the last word on that.

The metals themselves should turnout to be easily reformed at worst in order to put back into use after they arespent.  They will not be trueconsumables.

This also spells the end of asubstantial amount of our global CO2 emissions. The global warming debate is on the way to been irrelevant.  The real irony will come when we decide todeliberately burn these fuels in order to make carbon available for a richerbiosphere.  After all we do want and cangreen the deserts and dry lands of the globe. To do that properly will demand huge amounts of carbon.

At the present a heat machine can be built in bulk that produces 15 to 20 times unity with no fuel of any significance.  It is produced as steam and that is ideal for the power industry.  It will not be that easy, but we are replacing coal burners and reaction stacks with a reaction pile using powered nickel.  One can anticipate retrofitting many plants.