Zero Point Energy from Magnets?

Woohoo! The 1 week break is finally here. Haha. Got lots to do but I don't plan on starting to do anything yet - at least for today. Seriously need some R&R cos I just realised I haven't actually had a serious day of total rest since December last year. And I think last night was a good start - I played DOTA with Tweety until around 4 am. Haha. But before that I had to finish up some FYP stuff. Well, work before pleasure. :)

Anyway today's article is about a possible new source of energy. With the rising oil prices and seemingly limited supply, the world is actually now searching for a viable source of clean and long-lasting energy. One of the options is cold fusion, but up till now, no one has been able to create a working, sustainable demonstration of that.

Now a new option has come up - Zero Point Energy (ZPE). What ZPE is, in simple terms, it the energy resulting from the "infinitesimal motion of molecules even when seemingly at rest." This ZPE is actually a theory in Quantum Physics and while nothing says we cannot produce energy from it, no one has been able to do so... yet.

Mark Goldes, however, thinks he may have done it. His method of obtaining ZPE is by the use of magnets. Capturing ZPE using magnets seems possible due to the Casimir Effect that magnets produce.. However, his experiment isn't exactly stable yet and his team still isn't sure about what's happening, so Goldes isn't releasing any details yet. But they are "seeing more energy output than input".

Goldes hopes he can have an experiment that another lab can inspect and replicate by the end of the year as well as a small prototype generator that can power kitchen appliances by next year. So hopefully, if this technology is viable, we'll see it on the market soon, and hopefully this will cut the world's dependence on fossil fuels.

Well, I am still a little skeptical about this as cheap and clean energy doesn't seem possible. However, there are many mysteries in our world that we haven't solved, so this might actually be possible and may lead to a new "industrial revolution" that's environmentally friendly for a change.

Also, Goldes is a respected researcher who has produced a technology called the UltraConductor (think of a material with superconductor properties at room temperatures), so it's kind of hard to pass him off as just another mad scientist clamouring for fame. All the same, if it can come true, I'll definitely be very happy cos at the very least, I can save a little on the almost $50 per week I spend on petrol...

The nation's energy industry is struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina. Gas prices are soaring as a result of the catastrophic storm. America's reliance on overseas oil increases every year.

And from his office in the North Bay city of Sebastopol, Mark Goldes envisions a day -- perhaps not so far off -- when none of this will be a problem.

Goldes, 73, is chief executive of a small company called Magnetic Power Inc., which has spent years researching ways to, yes, generate power using magnets.

Click here for the full article.