Stremmenos Letter

To the Readers of the Journal Of Nuclear Physics: 19 December 2012
I am not possessed from “mania of persecution”, but morally responsible of the existence DEFKALION GREEN TECHNOLIGIES and due to an equal information in English language.

« Dear Mr. Karakousis (Chief Editor, TO BHMA)
In your authoritative newspaper To Vima (Sunday Dec. 2nd 2012), I read with some delay and a modicum of pleasure the article In-House Fusion by Mr. Kafantaris (I believe he meant “In-House Cold Fusion”), which, despite some incomplete and incorrect information (perhaps bordering on misinformation, though by no fault of its author), contributes nonetheless to the task of bringing your readers up to date, while promoting useful discussion on such an important matter.
Despite the deafening silence of the more important global media, a political and scientific thriller is taking place, and its interest is absolutely exceptional.
The referenced documents on cold fusion in my possession (I began working in this field of research in the early nineteen-nineties, and still do so today) indicate that many things have happened in the past two years, showing that we are truly on the eve of a technological revolution, which will produce a scientific, economical and political impact of world-wide magnitude.
I cannot understand why, in Kafantaris’ article, no mention was made of the contribution by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, the two cold fusion pioneers who first observed the phenomenon in 1989. The persons interviewed also omitted all reference to the merits of Andrea Rossi who, with the scientific advice of Sergio Focardi, developed the first working device known as the E-Cat (Energy Catalyzer). This apparatus is constantly being upgraded: in its current version it yields one megawatt of thermal power with just a few grams of nickel and hydrogen, and is already certified and commercially available.

A careful perusal of Mr. Kafantaris’ article would tempt me to propose (from a research scientist’s point of view, of course) a more appropriate title, something like “Cold Fusion GREEK STYLE”, given my well-established acquaintance with the characters that were pursuing it.
Unfortunately, whenever scientific innovation envisages potential material profit, it becomes mere speculation, and ceases to become objectively appreciated, or correctly and impartially classified within the value scale of science and culture.
I prefer not to yield to the temptation of commenting on the contents of the article, though I would have much to say, both in terms of business ethics and scientific calibration, for the sake of what is due to readers of an authoritative paper such as To Vima, who expect to read the truth, untainted by “shifty” statements and fantasies not grounded on a scientific facts. I do however grant the author the extenuating circumstance of being made a victim (one of many — I am one myself) of a consolidated devious methodology.
I will therefore casually limit myself to just two points, of what is commonly called of the “eye-popping” kind.
1. Defkalion’s “apprentice sorcerers” categorically state that cold fusion is a … chemical phenomenon … caused by nuclear transmutations! A new self-contradicting theory that even schoolchildren would reject.
2. The silencing of Greece’s involvement in the matter: Greece, at the government level, was keenly interested in the Rossi-Focardi technology, whereas your acquaintances deliberately ignored all previous developments, and boasted with megalomaniacal arrogance of their “wielding the world-wide scepter (!) of the development” of this technology.
These events actually began in 2009, when my friend and colleague Prof. Sergio Focardi informed me of the recent progress in the field of cold fusion, some time after his leave of absence and subsequent retirement.
I began working together with Focardi on this subject at the University of Bologna as far back as 1990. Our collaboration was admirable, independent and complementary, and allowed us to obtain concrete experimental results which assured us of the existence of the phenomenon and the production of excess energy. So much so that, in those days, I wrote a long article for your newspaper under the heading Cold fusion — the energy of the poor.
Anyhow, in 2009 I met Focardi and he informed me in great detail on the latest developments, and of the decisive contribution of Andrea Rossi, who introduced a catalyst in the system, capable of greatly enhancing the energy yield of nickel-hydrogen cold fusion.
I suggested to Rossi and Focardi the possibility of developing their promising technology in Greece, both in terms of further research and, in a later phase, industrial application, and my proposal was favorably received.
Rossi, with unconcealed hellenophily, was the most ardent supporter of the idea: he said it would have helped Greece, spurred innovation, and created jobs, reversing the trend of a looming recession.
These matters were taken up at the highest levels of the Greek government in the course of 2010. I must say that I found a very positive and sincere interest there, subsequently dampened by the problems which had begun to emerge and the country’s growing predicament. In particular, I was later informed, the most negative role was played by obstructionism on the part of the (incompetent) “persons in charge” of Greece’s research and technology, who deliberately disregarded a directive, given in an official meeting, to collaborate with the present writer to promote the Rossi-Focardi technology on the national level.
In that climate of uncertainty and indifference, Nobel Laureate Seferis’ words seemed even more poignant — “Wherever I travel, Greece always wounds me”.
I consulted with Rossi, and we took into account the offer of builder Alexandros Xanthoulis to develop the technology in Greece and in the Balkans. It was obviously second choice to the original proposal, but Government circles assured us that “it was possibly even better! Private industry is more flexible and has less red tape” (which would be true, if the entrepreneurs were reliable). In any case, we accepted the proposal, and in a relatively short span of time a demonstration of a small (2.5 kW) reactor was staged in Bologna, confirming the apparatus’s specifications (measurements were independently effected by Mr. Xanthoulis’ partners). About two months later, in Athens, an agreement was signed between EFA Srl, the firm which held the responsibility of dealing with the technology in Europe, and the new ad-hoc Greek company, Defkalion Green Technologies. Among the provisions of the contract were: (1) the establishment of a R&D timeline in the course of which Rossi was held to continue his work, until completion of industrial production, and (2) the obligation on the part of Defkalion to pay a first installment of intellectual property fees to Rossi, concurrently with the positive results of a test of the reactor to be held in a Greek University.
Unfortunately, Defkalion Green Technologies did not meet their financial obligations. After about eight months of shoddiness and delays, Rossi denounced and annulled the contract.
This is the real reason behind the rift and “divorce” — not the veiled and unfounded motivations which were told to Kafantaris!
I was later informed by friends that, while the contract was pending, DGT, lacking financial means of their own, were negotiating pre-sales of Rossi’s technology — a technology which they did not have!
So far, the story was disgraceful enough — but on account of the media storm which it was subjected to on the part of DGT’s blog and other means of information — last but not least the article in To Vima — all limits of decency and professional ethics were breached.
Initially, and without having anything tangible to show for it, DGT claimed that they had “lifted” the technology from Rossi (public declaration by A. Xanthoulis), and that they were designing their own home-use model, styled “Hyperion”.
Subsequently, a different version was given: an in-house technology was being developed by an elusive group of scientists and researchers, and all sorts of amazing results were being leaked out (in the mean time, they were waiting for Rossi to publish some innovative news which they might take over, and inflate to enormous proportions).
Finally, I read in Kafantaris’ article the formulation of arrogant theories based upon what I had spoken about for a layman’s audience three years before, after dinner (between cheese and dessert, in a manner of speaking), now paraphrased by them in a “science for the everyman” terminology.
Enough about Defkalion.

As a closing comment, I would like to convey to your readers a message of optimism: I am absolutely certain that in a few years we will speak of oil as of that raw material which we make plastic and textiles out of! A huge circle will have been closed, the one which began in Greek mythology with the adventure of the Titan Prometheus, who stole fire from the Gods in the name of humankind, a timeless symbol of the conflict between the development of energy and “the powers that be” (Theoi!). It underscores the enormous importance held, when the goal is development, by an equitable human culture and society; and how this contrasts sharply with the privileges of an oligarchy enthroned in the global Olympus.
Until the mid-20th century, humanity drew chemical energy from the outer shell of the atom (electrons), rather than from its nucleus. The combustion of wood and fossil fuels — oil, coal, etc. — is the production of energy from chemical means, which is one million times less efficient than the energy produced in the nuclei of atoms (I would advise Defkalion’s so-called “researchers” to take this distinction into consideration). Only in the stars and the sun, where the right physical conditions (gravity) are available gratis, is nuclear energy released (quasi) spontaneously. By induction, this energy is exploited on earth in various ways (chlorophyll biosynthesis, wind, solar power, and hydroelectric power — why, the very existence of mineral fuels, such as oil and coal, stems from the nuclear energy from the sun, stored in well-known geological eras).
At the end of World War II, as a result of Einstein’s prediction (ΔΕ = Δm.C2), men obtained energy on this earth by drawing it from the nuclear storage tank — but it was used to exterminate their fellow men (Hiroshima and Nagasaki!).
The Italian scientist Enrico Fermi mitigated this curse, and developed a technology which allows a peaceful use of nuclear energy — not devoid of problems of its own (Chernobyl, Fukushima, radioactive waste).
Today we have the concrete possibility of extracting nuclear energy in a friendlier manner, easier on humans and the environment, by means of COLD FUSION.
In the past two years CF has grown beyond the experimental phase, through the contribution of those who, with quiet determination, little material resources, and merely moral incentives, continued their work and research, in order to reach the “revolutionary” point, in which the production of clean, unlimited and low-cost energy becomes feasible. Now, the responsibility is being handed over to science and an honest entrepreneurship, for the good of humanity and in order to confront the current economic and environmental crisis.
In an initial phase, the appropriate applications of CF technology may be seen as follows:
a) Agriculture, hydroponics.
b) Desalinization plants for our islands.
c) Domestic uses (heating, air conditioning, self-sufficient home power management).
d) Naval technology (shipping): already today there are experimental reactors on the order of megawatts of thermal power, and an operative range of six months. When the relevant technological problems are solved (thermal durability of materials!) it will be possible to substitute the power plants of ships both large and small.
e) Large scale electric power plants: steam is being produced at ever-increasing temperatures, and will soon reach a level capable of generating electricity.

In this phase of the new energy age, Greece will be able to play an important role thanks to its deposits of nickel ore; but also in the field of innovation in naval propulsion systems, by creating the relevant know-how in its shipyards, and applications on a world-wide scale. Our human potential in science and technology, both in Greece and abroad, will give our country the chance to proceed, on its own and by means of this technology, towards a truly sustainable development … Yes We Can!
These efforts should receive the proper attention and encouragement both on the part of our Government and the whole political spectrum, and of the business world.
Let not then the land of Democritus and Leucippus miss the epochal opportunity of defying the energy shibboleths of this planet!

Prof. Christos Stremmenos
University of Bologna (ret.)
Former Ambassador of Greece to Italy