Maybe the most important energy related letter I've ever written to a Congress person

[FogerRox]

Here is the short and sweet:

In light of world crude production declining since may of 2005, and the Climate Crisis the planet needs a form of energy to replace oil. 400 years ago the Dutch used wind as a work multiplier, wind power drove the Dutch Empire. Just as coal did for the British Empire, and oil for the American Empire. I have been following the story of the late Dr Bussard and Polywell fusion for about a year. Polywell fusion differs from Tokamak fusion in Polywell's simplicity, spherical shape and elegance compared to the Tokamak's donut shape, high temperature, high pressure, & high radioactivity. Dr Bussards research was defunded in 2005 and recently refunded just before his death in Oct. 2007. The new device was first fired up recently at low power and the results were very encouraging. I await the completion of all the test runs later this summer, with my fingers crossed.

Researchers have been trying for 40 years to make the donut or torus design work, the ITER test reactor being built in France should be completed in 2011, it will run for 500 seconds and its work will be done. And we still won't proof of concept, many believe that the Tokamak design won't work.

I must urge everyone to be sure their representatives are aware of this vital project. Current funding is less than 2 million, if the current device repeats the results of the previous device, the technology deserves to be Manhattanized at a cost of 200 to 250 million dollars. I personally believe this technology can replace oil by 2050 and power humans thru the solar system in my lifetime. Mars in a month, not 6. Saturn in 2,1/2 months, not years.

Take this letter and re-write it if you want, but contact all your reps about this, please.

Dear congresscritter,

As you are no doubt aware, energy prices have been rising in the face of a peak oil, and there are increasing concerns that sources of power using fossil fuels will have negative environmental impacts, while nuclear fission is still controversial, and clean renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar are generally considered not enough to meet the energy needs of Americans by 2050. What you may not be aware of is that a possible solution to America’s energy crisis is on the horizon in the form of a developing technology called IEC (inertial electromagnetic confinement) fusion or Polywell fusion, which may offer a cheap, virtually inexhaustible and relatively nonpolluting source of energy.

A U.S. Navy-funded IEC fusion project started by the late Dr. Robert Bussard (former assistant director at the Atomic Energy Commission and highly regarded member of the scientific community) produced some very promising results in 2005 before its budget ran out. Dr. Bussard believed that if those initial results could be validated, the work could be extended into a full-scale, 500 megawatt net power device at a cost of about $200 million. Should this proposed full-scale device function as predicted, America will have a technology that can produce electricity cleanly for about a tenth of current commercial rates.

Sadly, Dr. Bussard passed away in late 2007, but before his death the Navy agreed to fund the effort to replicate his earlier results, and since his passing a new team has been working towards that end. This team has built a new machine and expects to report their findings for public review by the scientific community some time in early to mid-2008. Should their findings conclude that the initial results were valid and the design is capable of being extended into a full-scale machine that will produce power, we strongly urge you and your colleagues in the United States Congress to fully fund this research, as it could prove to be one of the most important projects this great nation has ever undertaken.

An overview of Bussard’s Polywell (short for polyhedral magnetic well) fusion design is available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell.

A roundup of Polywell fusion web pages can be found here:
http://www.strout.net/info/science/polywell/index.html

Sincerely,

Some background diaries @ Kos.

[FogerRox]

1. Whoever that was, thanks for the REC.

Thanks,I think this needs eyes.

[FogerRox]

2. Kickin for a couple of more REC....