Aharef

Steorn, an irish company, claims to have found a way to produce free, clean and constant energy. From their website:

We have developed a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy.

This means never having to recharge your phone, never having to refuel your car. A world with an infinite supply of clean energy for all.

Our technology has been independently validated by engineers and scientists - always off the record, always proven to work.

 

What's special here is that Steorn has launched an ad in the Economist where they "issue a challenge to the scientific community: test our technology and report your findings to the world."

Is this science? No. In Science, no one has authority to choose who is allowed to test what you propose. Everybody should be able to test your ideas, or else you're simply not doing science.

Is this bogus science? Most likely. I've recently stumbled across the seven signs of bogus science, which essentially are:

1. The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media.
2. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work.
3. The scientific effect involved is always at the very limit of detection.
4. Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal.
5. The discoverer says a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries.
6. The discoverer has worked in isolation.
7. The discoverer must propose new laws of nature to explain an observation.

From what I read on the Steorn Website, they are fulfilling number 1, 4, 6 and 7.

Here's my modest advice to Steorn: If you really think you are capable of creating free, clean, unlimited energy, why don't you just go ahead, get the patent and start producing the clean energy that the world so desperately needs?