[Rezwan]

In depth thread.

In light of this website post, can we come up with a chart comparing the heat and thermal pollution footprint for different energy production processes?

Given that

Almost half of all water withdrawn in the United States each year is for cooling electric power plants.

It would be nice to add a quantification/estimate of how much less thermal pollution will be generated by FF plants. That seems to be one area where we are still polluting.

Perhaps this should be a separate thread.

[Rezwan]

Brian H wrote:
I’m trying to sift from what you write the answer to my question: “what is to be gained with public support and awareness?” It is very hard to sell a concept to the non-conceptual public, or to businesses. You, and to some extent Rezwan, seem to be prepared to have the Society batter its brains out trying to do both. For what? Eric’s research will or will not succeed. If it succeeds, it will be easy to attract potential early adopters to fund $3-5Million worth of engineering refinement.

My motivation: “Eric’s research will or will not succeed.”

If it does not: We still have a lot of work to do. The concept of aneutronic fusion is interesting to me. It may be harder to achieve. Eric may be on his proverbial first light bulb. It may take two more, five more, 700 more attempts. We may go through this two years and not achieve it, but get a better understanding.

In any case, the concept of aneutronic fusion is inherently compelling. Clean nuclear energy. One way or another, it must be achieved. Part of my drive for public support is to get people to see that this is a door we (humanity) need(s) to batter down – something that human ingenuity must be applied to.

That’s why the focus of educational outreach is both on the concept of aneutronic fusion and on the issues around fostering innovation and experimentation in key areas, even if it seems too difficult. Or impossible.

It’s like that Sufi tale:

The Mullah is looking around outside his house.
A neighbor stops and asks, “what are you looking for”?
“I’ve misplaced my keys.”
So the neighbor helps him look. Now they are both looking around in the street.
“So, around where did you lose them?”
“In the basement.”
“The basement? Then why are we looking out here in the street?”
“There’s more light here”.

Right now, aneutronic fusion is in the basement of human consciousness. We’ve only got a handful of people trying to crack it. Everyone else finds it too difficult, so they’re up on the street rummaging around energy dead end compromises like oil and hydro and conservation and nuclear fission.

This frustrates me. Aneutronic fusion is the “holy grail” of energy. So we need to get busy. It’s the true energy challenge of our generation, and I don’t see us putting the appropriate amount of attention into it.

Clean, cheap, abundant energy forever. Won’t happen by itself.

So, my motivation is that I’m in this for the long haul. The outreach and education is insurance – encouragement to keep making it happen. If Eric doesn’t get it right away, I still want people working toward it.

But, ideally, Eric will crack aneutronic fusion in the next two years with the DPF and his innovations.

That brings us to scenario 2. Success! Fusion age! I’m not sure how well humanity will handle it. I have a bit of fear about the whole transition.

At least we all need some warning, and some time to think things through. This is the other motivation for outreach: to lessen the shock a bit. By the time it happens, I want people to feel it’s long overdue. As it could happen in 2 years, that’s not much time.

Also, I’m just trying to wrap my own head around the possibilities. Which makes this all speculative thought experiment.

In a sense, this is naive. Human ability to predict anything is sketchy, at best. The black swan that would be unleashed with fusion – well, these meager attempts to contemplate it seem pretty weak.

So, two contrasting motivations based on the outcome of success or failure.

[Rezwan]

Aeronaut wrote: If you have the dedicated staff, like a 60 person small online research/publishing firm, then it can be an effective strategy.

60 person? Dedicated staff? Good lord, no wonder we haven’t gotten anywhere.

Co-ordinating media opportunities like articles, press releases, and videos are proven ways to build awareness of anything- FF, the blog, the twitter page, the facebook page, I’m sure you can see this devolving into the nth dimension as Eric mentioned.

This sounds like a better strategy, especially as we need to write some key articles and make videos anyway to better explain what FF is about. Educational materials. Clearer on site message, plus supporting materials should come first.

Twitter is for reaching out to people, first those who are already interested in fusion energy and plasma physics, and then those who might share the dream, but who might not realize it yet since most of them haven’t even considered the possibility – green folk, poverty allieviation folk, futurists…

[Rezwan]

Brian H wrote: You might like to make use of the Custom Alias option; you can create a unique text name for any link you create, like:
http://tinyurl.com/ObamasDeception

Thanks for the tip!

Interesting example. :ohh:

[Rezwan]

Brian H wrote: Excuse my ignorance, but why are you in Iran? Are you Iranian? I always thought you were in NA!

I was in NA up until a couple of years ago. Moved back to IRI for a number of reasons. Luckily, internet knows no boundaries. Yep, I’m Iranian. Actually, Iranian+American. As you can see, we are a nuclear energy loving people. >:-(

Also, note me posting as Rezwan now. I also do most of admin’s posts, but I’ve kept it separate as that is supposed to be the official voice of FFS, and sometimes my personal voice slips through. I hope this isn’t a problem. Two hats, and all. Temporary, because someone else may take over “admin”, but I’ll always be rezwan.

[Rezwan]

Eric! A machiavellian streak. Who knew?

Article marketing, targeted to Fortune 1,000ish CEO and board members, seems the logical place to start. Targeting the WSJ and Inc Magazine can reach the new generation CEOs that little or none of the world has heard of. Yet.

Hmm. Perhaps we should start a new forum on article marketing, get suggestions for specific articles, etc.

OK, just did – try this thread: https://focusfusion.org/index.php/forums/viewthread/291/

[Rezwan]

FYI, ARPA-E mission areas:

ARPA-E Mission Areas (check any and all that apply)

* Reductions in imported energy
* Reductions in energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases
* Improvement in energy efficiency of any economic sector
* Technological lead for United States in advanced energy technologies

OK, maybe we don’t improve energy efficiency of an economic sector, per se. Just all around energy efficiency…

[Rezwan]

Wow. Hot off the press. That’s dated April 27. Reading it, I see we are a great fit. We can check off all 4 boxes of the ARPA-E Mission Areas, and they DO have a box for Nuclear Fusion in the Application Areas. Even the amounts:

ARPA-E anticipates that most awards will be for total project costs in the range of $2 million to $5 million.

Now, to apply.

…ARPA-E applicants are required to submit a concept paper as the first step of the application process. ARPA-E will review the concept paper and provide early feedback on whether the kernel of the R&D;idea is likely to form a basis of a successful full application. Only after notification from ARPA-E on the concept paper will the applicant be permitted to submit a full application.

And we’re to do it via “Fedconnect“. Are we registered with them?

In any case, clicking the “Search public Opportunities” link and “Reference Number” DE-FOA-0000065 brings us to our target. (Somehow I can’t put a direct link here in the forum. As you see, it says “session ended” or you have to re-enter the ref #. So you have to go through the steps.)

Anyway, back to the concept paper:

The concept paper must be submitted through http://www.FedConnect.net. The total concept paper is limited to eight (8) pages, exclusive of the cover sheet (Appendix 1). All pages shall be formatted to fit on 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper with type not smaller than 12 point and margins not less than one inch on every side. The concept paper must be submitted as a PDF file. The page limitation for applications includes all figures, tables, and charts. The submission of other supporting materials is strongly discouraged as it will not be considered for review. All applications must be written in English.
No later than one week prior to the concept paper submission deadline, the applicant must submit a web-based cover sheet through http://www.arpa-e.energy.gov/foa/coverpage.html (Appendix 1). Once the cover page is submitted, ARPA-E will email the applicant an application control number. This number must be placed at the top right corner of each page of the concept paper.

So, it looks like the first step is the web-based cover sheet, and it’s not up yet – link above goes to page that says, “Link to Cover Sheet Template: Will be posted soon.” I suppose in a few days. We’re chomping at the bit here. But the application itself gives a sample.

Let’s do this thing!

[Rezwan]

Hang on, it seems you can embed a chart onto the site. Here, let me try:

<a href="http://www.intrade.com/aav2/trading/tradingHTML.jsp?selConID=615448">

	<img src="http://data.intrade.com/graphing/closingChart.gif?contractId=615448&intradeChart=true&transBackground=true&transBackground=true" height="225" width="460"

	alt="Price for Dr Yoshiaki Arata’s Cold Fusion Experiment at intrade.com"

	title="Price for Dr Yoshiaki Arata’s Cold Fusion Experiment at intrade.com" border="0"></a>

Code not appearing in forums. Check out cold fusion article instead.

[Rezwan]

You’re saying they’re not like youtube, trying to get embedded on every site?

OK, so I went to intrade.com as well (having only visited .net) and found they do have fusion – cold fusion: “Dr Arata’s experiment to be replicated in peer-reviewed scientific journal on/before 31 Dec 2009″.

Suggesting a contract seems easy enough. Just send an email to markets@intrade.com with the Subject: Contract Suggestion.

But how to word it?

[Rezwan]

JimmyT wrote: Futures trades could suggest to some people that Focus Fusion is a real possibility in the fairly near future, and not some far fetched dream.

That would be the ideal outcome. I’ve just sent off a querry to both intrade and ppx about putting us on. Will keep you posted of response. Now to see about those “real futures markets”.

[Rezwan]

Will check it out.

Yes, not sure of any real substantial impact. But at the very least, it could be a fun little thing that makes our website more interactive (watching the ticking faux stock is entertaining) and gives food for thought on transition and futures.

[Rezwan]

Steven Chu sounds sympathetic. Bio on wikipedia notes

Chu has been a vocal advocate for more research into alternative energy and nuclear power, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combat global warming.[16]

Then again, he’s big on biofuels.

Chu was instrumental in submitting a winning bid for the Energy Biosciences Institute, a BP-funded $500 million multi-disciplinary collaborative project between UC Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley Lab and the University of Illinois.

EBI is

The world’s first research institution solely dedicated to the new field of energy bioscience, is initially focusing on the development of next-generation biofuels, but will also look into various applications of biology to the energy sector

Bart Gordon, Rep. Tennessee, science committee member also sounds lobby-able. Tennessee constituents, tell him how you feel!

These two names were from the ARPA-E article above.

[Rezwan]

Aside from waiting for ARPA-E to come together, how else can we tap the stimulus grants? It’s a bit daunting looking at the literature.

The feds have some handy sites: http://www.recovery.gov/ and http://grants.gov

For recovery grants, we’re directed to this link http://www07.grants.gov/applicants/recovery.jsp

Looking at their timeline, there doesn’t seem to be much time to jump in, find a grant, and apply for it. http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/timeline This all seems very rushed.

The National Council of Nonprofits offers these words of comfort:

With so many businesses, governments, and nonprofits struggling to survive financially, there may be an immediate “feeding frenzy” as people eye the stimulus bill and angle for a slice.

and

Nonprofit leaders should review their mission statements, review their community needs, and review the stimulus bill to see if there is alignment. If not, then pass and find other ways to help our nation’s economy recover, including stepping forward to ensure that wise decisions are made so the stimulus funds really “stimulate” the broader economy. Avoid mission drift: don’t chase after the money. Keep true to your mission and core values.

I’m just overwhelmed, back at the grants.gov site, trying to find a grant that fits focus fusion or LPP. Take the NSF “Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation” grant, the title sounds right, but the emerging frontiers they’re interested in are BioSensing & BioActuation: Interface of Living and Engineered Systems (BSBA), and Hydrocarbons from Biomass (HyBi). And many other stipulations which disqualify LPP, even if the frontier were aligned.

The timing does seem to have passed on all of this (the above required an initial letter of intent in December, before Obama was even in office. Grantseeking was never my best skill.

Here’s hoping the ARPA-E thing materializes.

[Rezwan]

Ah, an update on ARPA_E – seems Chu is frustrated with the slow going.

http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/03/arpae-doe-ropea.html

March 17 article says:

ARPA-E: DOE Rope-a-Dope Ties Up Chu’s Efforts on Energy Research

Energy Secretary Steven Chu wants to open the doors as soon as possible on a new agency within the Department of Energy (DOE) that’s designed to identify and fund what he calls “game-changing” research. But he says DOE bureaucrats are foiling his best efforts to move ahead quickly with the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, for which Congress has allocated a whopping $415 million between stimulus funding and appropriations.

“The task force that I assembled to look at the issue told me that it would take a year to get it up and running,” Chu told the House Science and Technology Committee this morning during a hearing to discuss federal energy policy. “I was dismayed by their answer, and I asked them to take a closer look and get back to me. I’m still waiting.”

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