For those of you coming late to this story, up in New Jersey there is a scientist, Randell Mills, and a small company, Brilliant Light Power, that have been working for the last 25 years to develop a new source of energy. This new source is based on a scientific principle that, while not as yet accepted by mainstream science, may be capable of producing virtually unlimited amounts of energy from water without producing any pollutants. It goes without saying that such technology has the potential to reshape civilization much as the steam engine, electricity, internal combustion, and several other discoveries have done in the past 250 years.
The energy that could be produced by this new technology will be so inexpensive that there is little doubt that it will eventually not only replace all other sources of energy production in existence today, but will also greatly increase mankind’s use of energy for many tasks that are unaffordable today. Obvious examples of uses for cheap energy would be widespread desalinization and recycling of water, year-round growth of agriculture products, or the spurring of rapid economic growth.
If this narrative sounds too good to be true, you may not have much time to wait for solid evidence of the technology’s viability. Demonstration of prototypes and outside testing will quickly overcome skepticism and begin the serious contemplation of the implications of such a technology. Should outside testing be successful, the demand for a technology that can produce electricity at a fraction of current costs would be one of the most significant, and yet disruptive, developments in the history of civilization, for the cost of energy could eventually shrink to insignificance.
For many years, Mills and his organization have been remarkably open about the technology they have been developing and have been putting on presentations concerning progress that are posted to YouTube. It is interesting that a technology with the potential to radically change civilization (hopefully for the better) has received so little attention by the media. This is mainly due to the aforementioned “too good to be true” perception of the technology and the fact that the theory behind the technology violates currently accepted science so that many say it cannot possibly work.
In late February, Mills and an associate, Dominic Jones, gave presentations to a group in California on the progress they are making towards finishing development and planning for marketing their “SunCell” energy producing device. For those of us who have been following this technology for many years, these presentations have given continuing insight into just how close Mills is to completing a working prototype and bringing his “SunCell” to market. The most recent presentation was no exception. When we last heard from Mills in December, he already had working a manually controlled prototype that did not yet fully enclose the energy production so that operators could see and control the reaction. An open cell allowed the vaporized silver used in creating the plasma to escape, thereby limiting the time of operation.
The next step in the SunCell’s development, which is scheduled to be completed in the 2nd quarter of this year, is to add electronic controls allowing the cell containing the plasma to be sealed and the energy producing reaction to continue indefinitely. From the recent briefing, we learned that the control system has been designed, built, and is currently being installed on a prototype SunCell. When this is accomplished and tested, the device will create a plasma continuously radiating millions of watts of energy in the form of light. The final step in creating a commercially useful device is to wrap the radiating sphere in a geodesic dome made of concentrated photovoltaic cells that will convert its radiated light into electricity.
The goal of the company’s current effort is to have a device ready for field testing in the facilities of outside companies who might be willing to produce or use large numbers of the SunCells once they are working to specifications. Brilliant Light is planning to have these devices ready for testing at cooperating companies by the second half of this year with units ready for commercial installation at customer locations in 2018.
Given that Brilliant Light is working with a new and relatively untested technology, it would seem likely that there will be at least some delay in fine tuning the device into a reliable product. While 95 percent of the development cycle may have been completed, there is still room for problems in the coming year even though Mills, his associates, and outside contractors helping with the project seem confident they can meet the schedule of commercial production during 2018.
Whether or not Mills eventually meets his current schedule is less important than when the world first recognizes that a new technology has been developed that has the potential of radically changing the global economy in a relatively short period of time. Delays of weeks, months or even years in getting a product to market will not be significant to the eventual impact of a technology of this importance. Think about the rate at which cell phones took over global communications in the last 30 years. The SunCell clearly has the potential to do the same thing.
Once a continuously operating prototype is demonstrated and reported on by the mainstream media, insight into its meaning can begin. Brilliant Light says the current fossil fuel market is on the order of $8 trillion per year. Throw in other sources of energy – renewables, hydro, and nuclear — and we are looking at multiple industries currently generating sales in excess of $10 trillion per year that could disappear. Bring on what is likely to be an explosive growth in demand for energy at a fraction of current costs and and we are looking at a technology whose ultimate impact could be measured in the hundreds of trillions of dollars.
