Mark Goldes

Renewable Energy Reality: We're Dependent on Coal

We have a little known alternative to coal!

"If at first, the idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it." -- Albert Einstein.

Revolutionary energy technology can enable a surprisingly rapid rebirth of the automotive industry.

Renewable energy systems are in development throughout the world – as they penetrate the market, demand for fossil fuels will drop. However, few have the potential to catalyze changes in the entire energy picture. Even fewer can substantially wind down carbon dioxide production fast enough to end the need to import fuel and avoid the most drastic, life threatening, impacts caused by Global Warming.

The earth is immersed in an extremely dense sea of energy. In 1926, inventor Hans Coler, in Germany, tapped what he termed “Space Energy”. His first generator delivered a few watts of electricity. During 1937, Coler demonstrated a second, 6,000 watt, generator that was later shown to the German navy. During WWII, a secret R&D project attempted to achieve production of the device in order to recharge submarine batteries without the need for a sub to surface. Late in the War, his laboratory was destroyed by a bomb. After hostilities ended, Coler cooperated with British Intelligence, which published a Report in 1946, concluding his achievement was real. In 1979, the British Intelligence Report was declassified and can now be found on the internet. A new version could become a University Demonstration device.

We are developing revolutionary new technology. Some of our generators may prove to be tapping that same Space Energy resource. It is now often referred to as the Quantum Vacuum, or Zero Point Energy (ZPE). U.S. Patent, No. 7,379,286 (not directly connected with our work) is entitled: Quantum Vacuum Energy Extraction and provides a comprehensive discussion of the Zero Point Field - and one way to tap it. Reading this Patent will provide scientists and the legions of skeptics with an excellent analysis.

Unconventional energy conversion systems may prove to be tapping this never previously commercialized, renewable, abundant source of energy. These revolutionary new energy conversion devices can be manufactured in many of the world’s existing factories. They are inherently cost-competitive. Not only can they be used to power homes and businesses of every variety, but also to make practical cars, trucks and buses that need no engines, banks of batteries, or any variety of conventional fuel or recharge.

Advanced designs are capable of producing electricity on a self-sustaining basis. Some devices without moving parts are comparable to an inexhaustible battery. One Proof-of-Concept prototype was evaluated by Lee Felsenstein, EE. He concluded it to be analogous to the early work on the transistor, which eventually led to a Nobel Prize and the creation of Silicon Valley.
One generator we are developing is expected to generate sufficient power to demonstrate replacement of the plug needed by a plug-in hybrid car. This will be a harbinger of automobiles that need no conventional fuel. With normal progress, a prototype new energy conversion system is anticipated to replace an automobile engine within three years. That goal might be achieved more rapidly if development involves four teams of engineers and technicians working on a 24/7 basis. The prototype will open a path to mass production of entirely new varieties of automotive power plants. Vehicles powered by these technologies will never require conventional fuel of any kind.

Cars can become a source of income and alternative to coal

Vehicle to grid (V2G) power was demonstrated by Google and PG&E during 2007. It has been estimated that selling power to the grid from future production hybrid electric cars might earn the vehicles’ owner $4,000 each year. This assumes that power will be drawn by utilities from the car’s batteries, by means of a two-way, plug.

However, in the future, cars powered by revolutionary energy conversion systems are expected to earn much more, as these generators are anticipated to replace both banks of batteries and car engines. Therefore, they are expected to produce far greater amounts of electricity. No plug will be required.

Generators of the variety we are developing to power electric automobiles might be thought of as analogous to a fuel cell that needs no hydrogen. We can easily switch this cell on or off. When the car is driving the conversion device is switched on, providing energy to the electric motor that propels the car. When the vehicle is parked, the motor that drives the vehicle is turned 'off', but the modular system remains "on", still producing energy, like a fuel cell that needs no fuel. In larger cars, trucks and buses, up to 150 kW, produced while the motor is off, can be transferred from the vehicle through a wireless technology requiring no physical connection to the parked vehicle.

This power might be sold to the local utility. Instead of paying to park, the electric power utility may decide to pay vehicle owners, because their cars and trucks become a source of electricity, a clean alternative to any existing variety of power plant. Over a reasonable period of time, payments to the owner may be sufficient to reimburse the purchase price of many vehicles.

Once cars, trucks and buses become available that need no fuel and can earn their keep, it is logical to expect automotive manufacturers will sell every such vehicle they make. Plants that have been shut down will reopen. Auto workers who have been laid off could have the opportunity to be rehired. Large numbers of new manufacturing jobs will be created.

A revolutionary product this far-reaching has the potential to provide huge numbers of new jobs and opportunities for new enterprise. The economic impact of cars as power plants is likely to prove a surprising way to stimulate the global economy.

It can also provide distributed generation of electricity wherever the grid is lacking or unreliable. Moreover, cars can wirelessly power homes and businesses. Imagine the many advantages, such as the aftermath of storms and other disasters.

These technologies will rapidly reduce the need to import fuel and thereby accomplish a huge reduction in the balance of payments, a huge drain at present on our economy.

Auto manufacturers are already preparing to market plug-in hybrids and electric cars. However, present technology sharply limits projected production volumes. Eliminating fuel burning engines and the need for large number of batteries with their recharge requirements will open huge new markets.

When jet engines were proposed for airliners, experts projected it would take 20 years for the changeover to take place. In fact, it took only 5 years!

When World War II began, auto makers shifted production to tanks and aircraft in less than a year. These changes required massive reorganization. Shifting to new energy conversion systems that require no fuel or recharge is infinitely less difficult. It only requires the determination to adapt to rapid change that can insure not merely the survival, but the blossoming of the automotive industry.

While oil prices are presently low, when the economy booms once more, they will tend to rise again. Revolutionary technology can eliminate that threat. Imported oil will gradually become unnecessary.

With the surprisingly rapid pace of CO2 production, human survival on the planet is presently at stake. Myles Allen of Oxford University captures the essence of the situation in one sentence: "The danger zone is not something we're going to reach in the middle of the century; we're in it now." It has been said: “What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.”

Energy consumption is at the core of human existence. We must sharply accelerate development of new, cost-effective, sustainable alternatives. The auto industry has the potential to catalyze, with a kick start, a global economic recovery.

The recent pair of TVA catastrophes are likely to stop any new coal plants in the USA.