At this point, I'd just like it to be on their radar so that when the WB-7 results are announced they're primed for action.
Please offer your thoughts, pro and con. Mistakes, things I left out, things I shouldn't have put in, etc.
The initial version will probably be a hardcopy sent to my Congressman (Mark Kirk) via U.S. mail (I think this is taken more seriously than emails), but I'd like this to be generic enough to be sent to any Congresscritter, and perhaps become an online petition as well.
Dear Mr. Kirk,
As you are no doubt aware, energy prices have been rising, especially oil, and there are increasing concerns that sources of power using fossil fuels may have negative environmental impacts, while nuclear fission is still controversial, and clean renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar are generally inefficient and do not produce enough power to meet the energy needs of Americans. 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, which may offer a cheap, virtually inexhaustible and nonpolluting source of energy.
A U.S. Navy-funded IEC fusion project started by the late Dr. Robert Bussard (a one-time executive 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, 100 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.
I would hit the geopolitical stuff (oil wars) and cut the size in half.
Better yet call them. I called last year in an effort to raise funding and couldn't get a rise out of my Cong. Critter. Maybe it is time for another call.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
I would hit the geopolitical stuff (oil wars) and cut the size in half.
Better yet call them. I called last year in an effort to raise funding and couldn't get a rise out of my Cong. Critter. Maybe it is time for another call.
Good point, the security issue is taken very seriously.
Yeah, Kirk actually hosts Town Hall phone conferences which I've participated in. They're surprsingly serious about them; last time I left a message that was cut off and an aide called me back to get the whole thing. Of course it may just be meaningless pandering, but at the least they're making a real effort to fake interest in our views.
Roger wrote:a developing technology called IEC (inertial electromagnetic confinement) fusion, which may offer a cheap
Correct me if I'm wrong, but until I read that I was under the impression IEC Fusion stood for "Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion." I asked Google what wikipedia had to say: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ie ... ipedia.org
That was where I got it previously. What does IEC fusion stand for? Electromagnetic or Electrostatic? (Or did Robert W. Bussard use the two interchangeably?)
I will post any good suggestions next week in a new post to keep the idea in front of people.
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Let me add - feel free to steal, post, republish, link, use in comments, etc. any of the Polywell Political stuff I have just published. If you send me an e-mail or private message I can even give you working html.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.