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Bill Gates Sponsoring Palladium-Based LENR Technology

Baldrson writes Kitco.com reports that: "Low energy nuclear reactor (LENR) technology, and by extension palladium, is attracting the attention of one of the richest men in the world and a pioneer inventor of new technology... In a recent visit to Italy, billionaire business man, investor and inventor Bill Gates said that for several years he has been a believer in the idea of LENR, and is a sponsor of companies developing the technology... During his trip to Italy he visited the national agency for new technologies energy and sustainable economic development (ENEA) where scientists have made significant progress towards a working design for low energy nuclear fusion. The centerpiece of their design is the same as in Mitsubishi's, palladium. Creating palladium foil with just the right parameters, and managing stress levels in the material was a key issue, one that the researchers at EMEA were able to resolve several years ago."

10 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. just a new name for cold fusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's good that he has a lot of money, because this is going down the toilet.

  2. Palladium foil with just the right parameters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That sounds like a boondoggle, not something that would be useful in a productive environment.

  3. Rossi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Whatever happened to Andrea Rossi? I was all excited about the E-Cat stuff from 2012, but since then he seems to have disappeared off the face of the Earth...

  4. Re:Gates is a very lucky man by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Many of us have had a few good business ideas at some point. The success of many entrepreneurs can be attributed to luck, being in the right place at the right time, and knowing the right people, rather than just having that great idea. But they then also have to recognize the idea as being good, recognize the opportunity presented by Lady Luck (timeliness and the right friends), have the guts to seize the opportunity and stake one's future on it, and then have the wherewithal to build a company around that idea.

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  5. Re:Gates is a very lucky man by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Plus the business ability to make it work financially. Plenty of people have the ability to innovate technologically but no skill at business management - they can try and fail, or they can just go work for an established company and give up the possibility of vast wealth in exchange for a near-guarantee of a moderate income.

  6. Re:"pioneer inventor of new technology" ??? by duckintheface · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I guess you have made my case. :) Fonts. A minor derivative language. Astronomy visualization. For these the US taxpayer sacrificed $billons in lost revenue that had to be made up from the taxes of hard-working creative folks who actually make useful things. Gates didn't build his monopoly the old fashiioned (and legal) way. Microsoft inherited an OS monopoly from IBM becasue IBM was arrogant enough to think that only IBM could sell operating systems. Microsoft stole their monopoly in internet browsers from Netscape, for which they were convicted and fined (not heavily enough). Microsoft could go away tomorrow and the world would be a better place.

    --
    "He took a duck in the face at 250 knots." -- William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
  7. Re:Whoops by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bill Gates is far more intelligent than you,

    That needs a big 'citation needed' next to it, but:

    and has already seen a working plant, which is why he is investing on a technology that is going to displace oil and outright kill renewables.

    You don't understand risk analysis. He's investing a very small proportion of his wealth in something that may have massive returns. The probability of said returns may be small, but that doesn't make it a bad investment if the potential payoffs are huge, as long as you can afford to take the loss if it doesn't pan out. Most people with his money will invest a few millions in a few fringe ideas, because it only takes one to pay off to more than make up for your investment. The majority of his portfolio will be in relatively safe investments with a close-to-guaranteed return, a bit will be in risky venture.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  8. Re:"pioneer inventor of new technology" ??? by clovis · · Score: 2, Insightful

    TFA calls Gates a pioneer. Well, the covered wagon part is right. Please name something of value that was invented by Gates himself. Give up? Ok, without looking it up.... name something of real scientific or technological value invented by Microsoft Research Labs. That lab allowed Gates to take enormous tax write-offs but never produced any scientific or tecnological break-throughs. But hey, it was all in good tax-dodging fun, right?

    Or, you could look up the definition of the word "pioneer".
    Here you go: "among the first or earliest to enter a new field of inquiry, Enterprise, or progress."
    Bill Gates and Microsoft clearly meets that definition regarding the personal computer

  9. Re:Gates is a very lucky man by Marginal+Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Quite right. And being a bit of a louse like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, who are willing to screw others to any degree for the sake of their own ambition, doesn't hurt either. To make it their level, you need the right mix of luck, technical skills, business acumen, and psychopathy.

  10. Re:"pioneer inventor of new technology" ??? by mystikkman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That lab allowed Gates to take enormous tax write-offs but never produced any scientific or tecnological break-throughs. But hey, it was all in good tax-dodging fun, right?

    Tax write-off and tax dodging? What the heck? That's like you donating $100 to the Red Cross to get $15 back in tax refund. Not to even mention all the payroll taxes that people working in Microsoft pay. MS would be way better off just stashing the money like Apple does.

    Your post is utterly moronic. What is it about Microsoft that turns otherwise smart people into f**king morons?