

Cold fusion. The moment I type those words, I know that half of you will smile with excitement — while the other half will grab your pitchforks and chase me out of town. No other topic, perhaps with the exception of PS4 vs. Xbox One, has caused as much dissension amongst ExtremeTech readers. On the one hand, we have a technology that, if it works — if it can really produce unlimited amounts of cheap, green electricity — could change society forever. On the other hand, there are a lot of scientists who are adamant that the technology is snake oil — a scam that’s perpetuated by writers such as myself. On the off-chance that cold fusion does turn out to be the savior of civilization, though, I’m going to keep on writing about it. Today, the big news is that a large US investment company has acquired the rights to Andrea Rossi’s E-Cat cold fusion technology. That investment company, Cherokee Investment Partners, appears to be interested in deploying the cold fusion tech commercially in both China and the US.

Cold fusion, also known as low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR), is a technology that promises to create huge amounts of green energy from very cheap fuel. In the case of Rossi’s E-Cat (Energy Catalyser), nickel and hydrogen are fused into copper — a process that has 10,000 times the energy density of gasoline, and 1,000 times the power density. For more background information on cold fusion/LENR, and why it’s safer and cleaner than normal nuclear reactors, read our previous E-Cat story. Suffice it to say, the scientific community’s main contention is whether this reaction is actually possible or not. Rossi says he’s found a special catalyst that makes it possible; lots of other scientists, though, claim it’s hogwash. (Read: 500MW from half a gram of hydrogen: The hunt for fusion power heats up.)

Andrea Rossi, with one of his E-Cat LENR devices

Andrea Rossi, with one of his E-Cat LENR devices

Putting aside whether the tech actually works or not, it seems that the rights to Andrea Rossi’s E-Cat have been acquired by a US partner: Industrial Heat. Industrial Heat appears to be a new LLC set up by the CEO of Cherokee Investment Partners, Thomas Darden. Rossi had previously spoken about a mysterious American partner, but (in true Rossi fashion) had previously declined to say who that partner was — it’s now all but confirmed that Darden/Cherokee was the partner in question. Cherokee has previously worked in the energy sector, investing in solar power and waste-to-energy technology.

LENR (cold fusion) hydrogen/nickel lattice

How cold fusion/LENR could theoretically work — hydrogen atoms fusing with a nickel lattice, to creat copper.

Industrial Heat, according to a press release dated January 24, has been “preparing numerous patent applications” to protect its newly acquired cold fusion technology. The press release indicates that a key factor in the acquisition was the May 2013 research paper, compiled by independent scientists, who found that the E-Cat was producing “anomalous” amounts of energy. There are also reports that Darden recently visited China, to showcase the E-Cat to Chinese officials and businesspeople. China is reportedly looking at using the E-Cat to significantly reduce its carbon footprint. (Read: NASA’s cold fusion tech could put a nuclear reactor in every home, car, and plane.)

While the Industrial Heat acquisition adds a lot of credence to Rossi’s claims, it’s still not scientific proof that LENR is actually occurring inside the E-Cat. Rossi says that he has a team of international scientists that are planning to do another round of tests on the E-Cat. Their tests should “end in March,” with a peer-reviewed report to follow sometime after that. The May 2013 study left a lot of questions unanswered, which in turn led to the authors’ conclusions being mostly dismissed. Hopefully this next study will finally prove that cold fusion is real.