Modern civilization relies on energy. Almost every vital technology in today’s world that is used to sustain life and allow the world to do its work is dependent upon a power source of some kind. Agriculture, transportation, heating, lighting, communications, etc., all consume huge amounts of energy. Take away our energy sources and in a very short time the world would collapse into chaos. Solving the world’s energy problems is one of the great issues of our time.
Our current reliance on fossil fuels (primarily coal, oil and natural gas) does not seem like something we can sustain. These are finite resources which produce high levels of carbon emissions and there are concerted efforts around the world to limit their use Research into alternative sources of energy has been accelerating in recent years. However, there are problems with the major alternatives. For example:
- Wind doesn’t always blow, the sun doesn’t always shine, and even if wind and sun were constant, there are huge technological barriers to harvesting sufficient power from these sources to meet the needs of a power-hungry world.
- Biofuels rely on agriculture, and production of crops for fuel mean less land and resources are available for growing food.
- Nuclear power is controversial because of radioactive waste and security issues, and building nuclear power plants is extremely expensive.
- Tidal power technology is still in its infancy and is only feasible in certain geographic locations.
It is not surprising then, that there is much pessimism from those who see no easy solution to the energy crisis. Many predict a future where the supply of energy will shrink, prices will climb and standards of living will decrease.
Into this mix steps Steorn, saying that they have discovered a way to produce “free, clean and constant energy” using magnetic interactions. Such a claim flies in the face of the set-in-stone first law of thermodynamics — energy cannot be created or destroyed. Steorn has made an incredibly bold assertion for a small company who previously had been working on anti-fraud detection technology in the banking and credit card industry.
It has been over three years since Steorn first went public with the The fact that the company has yet to show a working conservation of energy-breaking Orbo device has caused a high level of skepticism among many observers, if not outright derision. And that is not hard to understand that point of view. Claims of free energy and perpetual motion have been made from various people for many years, and so far none have been satisfactorily proven.
Now if Steorn proves to be correct, and Orbo technology does what they say it will do, the pessimism and concern about energy that is so prevalent today will likely be replaced by optimism and hope. Without doubt, Orbo would affect the current energy industry profoundly, and many of the current alternative solutions would surely fall by the wayside.
Can we reasonably hold out hope for Orbo technology at this point? At this point, we really only have Steorn’s word to go on. If you trust what they are saying, then yes, there is cause to hope – but you are pretty much going on faith. According to the company, however, within a few weeks (before 2009 is over) there will be more than just their word to support their claims. They have said that when they launch commercially later this year “academic and engineering validation would be released concurrent with public demonstrations”.
So, we only have a short period of time to know whether Steorn will give us cause for optimism regarding the future of energy production.
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