Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Etc., Green Daily
Magnetic Power Inc.'s GENIE technology is supposed to do eight great things
I don't think we've had a "new-technology-that-will-solve-everything" type of post on AutoblogGreen in a while, so why not offer up a fresh one to our readers?
On display today is GENIE (Generating Electricity by Nondestructive Interference of Energy), a technology developed by Magnetic Power Inc. Before we get into what GENIE is, let's see what MPI says it will do. To wit:
GENIE powered vehicles will:
- Never require fuel of any kind
- Help prevent future resource wars
- Earn substantial cash for their owners
- Reverse the decline of the auto industry
- End the need to build more power plants
- Eliminate concerns regarding fuel mileage
- Generate new jobs and stimulate the economy
- Create a powerful weapon against climate change
Based upon proprietary discoveries in MPI's labs, GENIE generators are being designed that operate continuously, without fuel, extracting electricity by converting an abundant, renewable, extremely dense, energy source that exists everywhere in the universe. The process will create no pollution. Variations will provide a permanent power supply that eliminates the need for batteries of all sizes. Conventional power costs are rising. The cost of electricity from GENIE promises to be less than any competing form of power generation today, or in the foreseeable future.
In that PDF listed above GENIE is described this way:
GENIE, under development by Magnetic Power, Inc., is a new type of generator that can be constructed both with and without rotating parts. Solid-state GENIE modules can be scaled down to replace batteries. Small variations will be able to power cell phones and other electronic devices. They can also be scaled up to run cars. Unlike batteries they do not need to be recharged. Large GENIE generators will be capable of producing one Megawatt, or more, and can be utilized by energy hungry industries as well as power plants.
There is more in articles on the MPI site. I still don't quite understand how GENIE operates. If you can find this out, feel free to write it up in the comments.
[Source: Magnetic Power Inc., submitted by Mark Goldes, MPI's CEO]
Surprise! Here comes GENIE™
A revolutionary new technology, GENIE (Generating Electricity by Nondestructive Interference of Energy) is being developed at Magnetic Power Inc.
GENIE powered vehicles will:
- Never require fuel of any kind
- Help prevent future resource wars
- Earn substantial cash for their owners
- Reverse the decline of the auto industry
- End the need to build more power plants
- Eliminate concerns regarding fuel mileage
- Generate new jobs and stimulate the economy
- Create a powerful weapon against climate change
Oil: In two years there will be a billion automotive vehicles worldwide, triggering ever higher prices for fuel. Biofuels: Some have positive potential, particularly for the inevitable transition period. Hydrogen: Billions in infrastructure are needed for most projected systems, including fuel cells. GENIE: No fuel ever required.
Resource Wars
The conflict in Iraq is clearly about oil. Can there be any doubt that nations will fight over shortages of fuel, water and food supplies? GENIE can rapidly cut back the demand for oil or any other fuel. It can also provide the power for inexpensive desalination plants, as well as pipelines to carry fresh water wherever it is needed.
Cars can earn income
Vehicle to grid (V2G) power was demonstrated by Google and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. during April, 2007. An article about V2G, published in 2002, suggested that a typical hybrid electric car could produce $2,000 each year for the vehicle's owner when parked. This was based on power drawn from the car's batteries. In the future, GENIE is expected to replace both batteries and car engines as well as provide far greater amounts of electricity. It may provide sufficient annual income to the owner to reimburse the purchase price of many vehicles, over a reasonable period of time.
Provide a huge boost to the auto industry
Once cars become available that need no fuel, it is logical to expect manufacturers will sell every such vehicle they make. Plants that have been shut down may reopen. Auto workers who have been laid off may have the opportunity to be rehired. Large numbers of new automotive manufacturing jobs will be created.
No more coal burning or nuclear plants
Cars are parked about 95% of the time. Once cars are powered by GENIE, a typical urban parking lot could provide several megawatts of electricity. Inductive coupling can be used to eliminate the need for any wire or plug connection between the vehicle and the utility grid. This system can be implemented in substantially less time than constructing a nuclear plant. It will also end the need to build new coal burning power plants.
Fuel mileage concerns will fade away
Cars that need no fuel will end the controversy about average mileage figures. Any car maker producing many GENIE powered vehicles, will no longer have to meet that challenge. Congress can then concern itself with other, more important, issues.
Economic stimulus
Concern is rising that the American economy is facing a possible recession. A revolutionary product as far-reaching as GENIE has the potential to provide huge numbers of new jobs and opportunities for new enterprise. As an example, consider the modification of existing cars, by shops that might readily be a franchise, where the owner drops off a vehicle and drives away in a loaner. A few days later, the customer returns to pick-up their converted, electric car; one that requires no recharge and can sell power to the local utility when parked.
A powerful new weapon to fight Global Warming
Greenland loses more ice each year than all the ice in the Alps, according to Konrad Steffen, a Greenland expert and advisor on abrupt climate change. "It is scary," said Steffen. Not only in Greenland, but in Antarctica and elsewhere there is massive melting of ice. "In 8 years nearly all Peru's glaciers will be gone due to global warming and its 27 million people will nearly all lack fresh water, with the likely result being: 'chaos, conflict and mass migration'. Each 1 degree Celsius global temperature rise deprives between 400 million and 1.7 billion people of sufficient water. "A total of 46 nations and 2.7 billion people are now at high risk of being overwhelmed by armed conflict and war because of climate change. A further 56 countries face political destabilization, affecting another 1.2 billion individuals." (Observer UK 11-4-07). More than 180 nations have coastal areas in peril. Two-thirds have over 5 million people under threat of serious flooding. Included!
are cities such as New York, London, Miami, Shanghai and Tokyo. Rajendra Pachauri, a scientist who heads the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, concluded that drastic shifts are happening much more rapidly than earlier predicted. IPCC has stated: "What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment."
The World's Huge Appetite for Energy
Energy consumption is at the core of human existence. It virtually controls what we eat, how we live, where we go, how we are entertained, our health, knowledge, defense and exploration. The world's demand for energy is surging. The U.S. Department of Energy forecasts electricity use will grow by an average of 2 percent per year worldwide and almost twice as rapidly in the developing world. Robust economic growth in many developing nations is expected to boost demand for electricity for air conditioning, cooking, space and water heating, and refrigeration. We need to sharply accelerate development of radically new, cost-effective, sustainable alternatives. MPI has dedicated more than 20 years of research and development into exploring breakthrough technologies. To reverse the trends discussed above, MPI envisions a technological revolution, developed commercially, that conserves utilization of available planetary resources. GENIE is projected to be easy to manufacture and use, as well as inexpensive, thus capable of rapidly achieving global impact. It is time to speed development of this exciting technology.
www.magneticpowerinc.com
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mark 9:07PM (11/24/2007)
I know how it works
1. Make outlandish claims using pseudo-scientific sounding gibberish
2. Get free publicity on blogs and other media that should know better - but hey, its a slow newsday
3. Collect $$$ from gullible investors that did poorly in physics (side note: lotteries do bang up business because so many people slept through math)
4. Profit!
This is a really good blog - this was a totally unnecessary piece of trash - lets stick to cars.... and electric scooters, of course :)
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bolhuijo 9:25PM (11/24/2007)
If you want to know more, google "zero point energy" and you'll have enough reading material for weeks. Most of it is pretty entertaining too. You'll find all the standard free energy stories: "Based on science verified by NASA", "A guy in Germany in 1938 invented it by accident and was using it to power his house but a bomb destroyed it", "Even though we know this, nobody has been able to duplicate it", "Government agents are after us!", "Oil company goons are after us!", "We just need some more time (and investors) to perfect it!"
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GreyFlcn 9:39PM (11/24/2007)
==I know how it works
1. Make outlandish claims using pseudo-scientific sounding gibberish
2. Get free publicity on blogs and other media that should know better - but hey, its a slow newsday
3. Collect $$$ from gullible investors that did poorly in physics (side note: lotteries do bang up business because so many people slept through math)
4. Profit!==
Hrmm sounds familiar.
http://greyfalcon.net/algae
http://greyfalcon.net/algae4
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BlackbirdHighway 9:47PM (11/24/2007)
I think your chances of winning the lottery twice are still better than they are of having this scheme turn out to be anything other than a scam.
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rgseidl 10:56PM (11/24/2007)
Some investors can be fooled all of the time, and those are the ones you want.
Please google "perpetual motion machine".
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Chris M 11:07PM (11/24/2007)
It's an elaborate scam that has been in operation for many years, with the same old articles updated at regular intervals. Their website is filled with elaborate bafflegab designed to confuse and impress the scientifically illiterate, including talk of "zero point energy" and a tall tale of one mythical "Hans Coler, German scientist" who allegedly made a solid state generator in 1926 that got 6 Kw of power from "space energy". It was supposedly captured by the allies after WW2, and of course the tale has the old "big government conspiracy to hide it" bit. Not suprising, there is no confirmation of the story.
They also claim "a large electric utility is investigating" and "a huge steel company...is also interested". No names, no way to verify these claims. I suspect that, just like "Hans Coler", they are a complete fabrication.
They don't actually have a working device, just a highly suspect "theoretical model". They are, of course, looking for investors to help fund their "research". Their current "aim to achieve" was to build a "Proof of Concept" model in 2007, but it hasn't appeared yet. Hmm, seems that they were going to get a "proof of concept" every year for several years now.
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Alex 11:39PM (11/24/2007)
And their subsidiary (ultraconductors.com) with the room-temperature superconductors... two scientific revolutions in one night is too much for me. Time for bed.
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Domenick 12:08AM (11/25/2007)
Speaking of electric scooters, you guys haven't covered this one. http://www.ikoo.us/
And of course there is the recently released "hoverboard" scooter
http://www.goped.com/Products/ESR750Hover/Default.asp
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Tim 4:17PM (11/25/2007)
Alex, scientists just discovered that they can make stem cells from adult skin. Another miracle!
Time and time again, the impossible has become possible, then commonplace and then mundane. I'm FLYING to Vegas next week. Yep, that too was once impossible.
Never say NEVER! NOTHING is impossible for those with open minds and determination. Remember that the next time you turn on your light or eat some Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Negative people who believe in the impossible instead of the possible disgust me. They have never contributed anything and they never will because they believe that it's impossible.
One's belief becomes reality. It’s easier to quit, or never try at all than it is to do.
Those who won't even try have no right to criticize!
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Jase 6:58PM (11/25/2007)
Tim. Put your money where you mouth is and invest in it then.
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Spike 9:15PM (11/25/2007)
The Question is not "does a device exist that produces electricity without fuel?" That has been avaialble for years. It is called a solar panel. The question is "How much will this new device cost per watt?" The machine won't be free therefor the energy it produces has a cost. Will it wear out and need service or replacement? Yes Unlike the solid state PV panels on my roof which will be producing "free" power long after I am gone.
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EMC 10:41PM (11/25/2007)
Don't pass anything off as impossible, but at the same time we should all be critical of revolutionary claims without proper independent reasearch and proof us said claims...
Even when these claims are proven to the scientific community, there can be *hidden* problems.
My 3D dynamics lecturer at uni had an interesting story... I can't find the exact information, but a concept similar to this: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5313850.html was developed when gyroscopes were first discovered. Someone invented a system of developing free power from giant gyroscopes, and it was proven that the output from this system was greater than the input.... until somone realised that the byproduct was the slowing of the earths rotation!
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BlackbirdHighway 7:05AM (11/26/2007)
There was a lady in New Jersey who won the lottery twice, so it is true that very unlikely things do occasionally happen.
I still stand by my assessment that MPI is less likely to be true that winning the lottery twice.
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Tim 9:39AM (11/26/2007)
Any fool can criticize something they don't fully understand.
Innovation and progress is like life in that it requires risk to realize the fullest gain. My risk is that I’ll patiently listen without criticizing. Maybe I’ll even learn something.
However, in order for you to convince me that what you say is true, you will have to prove it so. Yes, I will listen with an open mind and I will even hope that you can prove that what you say is true! Once proven I will happily invest time, energy and money.
It is this attitude that has given mankind EVERYTHING.
The fool with a closed mind has closed the door to all possibilities. To this fool, life has no meaning except to destroy the hopes, dreams and possibilities of others. The world would be a much better place if this fool had never existed at all.
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pkuhl 11:14AM (11/26/2007)
There's open-minded, then there is foolish.
There's no need to be "open-minded" that perpetual motion machines or free energy schemes will work because the laws of thermodynamics tell you they cannot.
There's reason to be skeptical of any claims that are not supported by evidence. That's the opposite of foolish, but that is not closed-minded.
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GoodCheer 11:59AM (11/26/2007)
I think the technical feasibility of the GENIE is summed up pretty well with the phrase
"The question of where this energy comes from may be debated for some years."
However, if it's being looked into by an electric utility, and they conclude that they can produce electricity more cheaply using GENIEs than by burning coal or operating a wind-farm, then I'm sure MPI will have all the cash they need.
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Tim 12:03PM (11/26/2007)
Pkuhl- "There's no need to be "open-minded""
That has to be THE most foolish, saddest and most disgusting thing I have ever heard. Why do you even bother living? Stop consuming our air! You're poisoning our planet with your Co2.
What if this thing is working like a heat pump? Maybe it’s not "creating" energy, but only moving it from one point to another? Is a heat pump a “free energy” machine? It does NOT produce any heat!
I’m only saying that we should NOT condemn them until AFTER they have presented their evidence and then only IF that evidence is found lacking.
Scientific FACT has been proven time and time again to be FICTION.
All I’m saying is that as long as it’s not costing us anything we have the obligation to let them Prove It!
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smithers 12:51PM (11/26/2007)
Tim,
THERE IS NO EVIDENCE, they are never going to PRESENT evidence, so we can pretty much just rule them out as snake oil salesmen right now.
Your rantings are inane and ridiculous, honestly I can't tell if you are doing it to be ironic or you really are that mentally challenged.
There are plenty of reasons not to buy into garbage like this, but if you really think it is the be-all end-all of energy solutions, by all means cut them a check.
Yeah, I didn't think you would be giving them cash any time soon either.
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BlackbirdHighway 1:42PM (11/26/2007)
From Tim's reaction to posts, I think he already has money invested in the MPI.
According to their website they have "successfully tested a proof-of-concept prototype" that is "based upon physical principles allowing for operation at greater than 100 percent efficiency."
Whoa, that's a very tough sell right there, since there are no such physical principles. So what kind of proof do they offer for such a wildly outlandish statement?
"While the efficiency of this prototype is low,..."
So their proof that they can achieve greater than 100 % efficiency, which every physicist in the world will tell you is a load of bull, is a "successful" prototype that has LOW efficiency?
Show's over folks. Nothing to see here. Just another bunch of wackos in a world filled with them.
I especially like the part about "Incomplete theoretical work does not hinder MPI’s engineering research."
Translation: We have no idea what the hell we are doing, but we're sure it's going to work!
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ug 2:33PM (11/26/2007)
He puts the articles on ABG because he is afraid the world is going to end without overunity. At least that's the impression I get (i.e. desperation breeds gullibility).
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