Energy Miscellany

Brian Wang provides new information from Blacklight Power on its mysterious Continuous Power Generator. Blacklight Power's approach is the closest thing to science fiction to be funded at high levels.

Brian also presents recent information onCold Fusion and new speculation about the IEC Bussard Fusion approach.

Brian Westenhaus looks at a promising French approach to creating liquid fuels from biomass waste using plasmas (more on this from GCC). He also takes a look at a new acellular approach to artificial photosynthesis.

From his new desk at Consumer Energy Report, Robert Rapier presents a broad overview of his positions on energy issues.

Finally, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu advocates for small modular nuclear reactors from the pages of the Wall Street Journal.

The long range outlook for abundant, clean energy is very good. But we must be careful not to shut down our best options for near term and intermediate term energy while we are star-gazing into the future.

Delusions of doom -- catastrophic anthropogenic global warming doom, peak oil doom, overpopulation doom, resource depletion doom, and so on -- can lead us down a dead end path from which there is no route to that abundant, clean energy future we dream of.

Europe's demographic fate is set, downward to diminishing numbers of smart young Europeans, downward to ever greater dependency upon central governments and lesser self-sufficiency. It makes sense for Europe to cling to various dooms as excuses for the unwillingness to face the hard choices.

North America and Oceania do not have to follow that downward path.