Future Energy eNews

June 2019, Volume 20

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Greetings!

Glad to announce that we have a full roster of great speakers coming up for our Eleventh Conference on Future Energy (COFE11). Visit www.futurenergy.org for the complete announcement and speakers list. Our Plenary Speaker is Dr. Bruce Cornet who is an expert on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) and will be addressing the technical, propulsion aspects of his first hand evidence, which has also been documented in his book, to be released in time for COFE11. Other presentations, mostly by PhD and MDs, relate to “Biofield Imaging”, “EM Propulsion Systems”, “Emerging Scientific Paradigm”, and “The Dark Side of Solar”, among over a dozen talks, in conjunction with the ExtraOrdinary Technology conference  in the same hotel. Register today! See the Promo Video here .

Also coming up on July 11 (Thursday) from 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM is the 2019 Congressional Clean Energy Expo and Policy Forum  here in DC at the Rayburn House Office Building where IRI will be exhibiting with lots of clean energy exhibits and presentations, even with me, Thomas Valone, at the first Policy Forum session from 9:30 - 10:10 AM. For those outside the Washington DC area, this all-day series of ten-minute presentations by experts in renewable energy and sustainability will be webcast for FREE as well. A live webcast of the Policy Forum will be streamed at 9:30 AM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast.

For those interested, my “Review of Electrogravitics & Electrokinetics Propulsion” in the International Journal of Geosciences, special issue on “Gravity Research”, has now surpassed 10,000 downloads (it is open access in case you would like a copy too). It has the latest info on T. Townsend Brown, including for example, a link to the five-minute video of him and his experimental models .

Our first story features a CNG hypercar, with a chassis that is entirely 3-D printed by Divergent Microfactories, a California-based startup, with an aerodynamic design. A related story also quite surprising is the prediction of mass produced 3-D printed cars that will cost less than $10,000 .

Story #2 is a fascinating review of the recent development of several (actually six) flying cars that you can own. You will need to have vehicle training and pass an FAA Private pilot exam but overall, not a bad deal for avoiding those bumper-to-bumper parking lots called “rush hour.”

Speaking of flying, Story #3 reveals the newest electric plane designed for NASA by the University of Illinois. What is exciting about it, besides the sleek shape for a commercial aircraft, is the fuel cell concept using cryogenic hydrogen for an ultra-efficient electric propulsion.

Story #4 continues the flying theme to outer space with the hope that a fusion-powered spacecraft is coming to a spaceport near you in about ten years with Direct Fusion Drive (DFD) being developed by Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. This story was just released on the popular Space.com website which reports on all space-related developments. There is a five-minute video on the site that is a good summary of this powerful technology. The fusing plasma heats up cool propellant flowing outside the confinement region. This propellant is directed out a nozzle at the back of the engine, producing thrust. And DFD received an Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) award this year, which will fund further development through next year.

Story #5 is a Newsweek reprint of a proposal for creating synthetic fuel from CO2 and sunlight from researchers in Norway and Switzerland. By moving the process out to sea in enclosed floating islands, they would safely use photovoltaic cells that could convert solar energy into electricity to power hydrogen production and CO2 extraction from seawater. The gasses produced would then be reacted to form methanol that can be reused as a fuel, "which is conveniently shipped to the end consumer," the scientists state. It thereby can be an emission-free production of burnable fuel that returns the captured CO2 to the air during combustion, being a net zero emission process. The PNAS journal article source has an Abstract and Significance online with the title, “Renewable CO2 recycling and synthetic fuel production in a marine environment” that was just published this month. Now for those like me who want to see global CO2 to peak and then begin to decline, carbon capture and sequestration is the name of the game. Somehow this turned into a big tax credit last year and a few companies are taking advantage of the opportunity to get the hardware paid for and then some. Enchant Energy is a good example which just made the news in the Daily Times this month. Their cost for a carbon capture installation in San Juan is about $1.2 billion and the U.S. tax credit about $2.5 billion -- what a deal!  An online Primer: Section 45Q Tax Credit for Carbon Capture Projects is also available to explain why the tax credit is double the cost of the investment.

Onward and upward!

Tom Valone, PhD

Editor



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Californian startup Opener’s entrant into the flying car market is BlackFly, which the company hails as, “the world’s first ultralight all-electric fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft.” It’s a single-seat aircraft/vehicle capable of travelling up to 25 miles on a charge, with a top speed of 62 miles per hour.You won’t need a pilot’s license to fly it, although you will have to complete vehicle training and an FAA Private Pilot written exam.

As with a lot of the other vehicles on this list, no official price has been announced yet, although Opener has stressed the importance of “competitive pricing.” In interviews, designer Marcus Leng has said that Opener should cost no more than an SUV. Provided he’s talking about an average midsize SUV, that would suggest we’ll be able to take to the skies for around $33,000.