Jed Rothwell: Industrial Heat Don’t Believe ERV Report

Shane D wrote: "That makes me wonder about his supposed relationship with IH. Maybe I misread him earlier, but I got the impression he was in touch with them NOW, and they told him the plant didn't work."

I am in touch with them now. But not often, and they do not tell me much. Everything I said was based on their press releases. I.H. did briefly confirm to me that a failure to "substantiate" the claim means they do not think there is significant excess heat. But what else could it mean? What other interpretation can there be?

I think you should take both press releases at face value. They mean what they say. Rossi believes the device produces 50 times input. Whereas I.H. believes the tests failed to "substantiate" the claim. One of them has to be mistaken. There is no way a machine that produces 50 times input would fail to "substantiate" the effect.

If you think there is some other interpretation to "substantiate" or you think there is some hidden meaning or motivation, you may be right, and that makes me wrong. I am not claiming any proof more compelling than the press releases and lawsuit documents which everyone has access too.

To summarize: I do not wish to give the impression that I have super-secret or privileged access to information, and you should believe me on that basis. I don't! Just slightly better access than others. I try to base everything I say on published sources you can see for yourself. Which is not to say you must agree with my interpretation! Perhaps you have reason to think the press releases are not trustworthy and should not be taken at face value. If you are right, then I am wrong.

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then Tom believes, Jeb doesn't really believe what he says he believes because he 'rowed back'. Presumably now Jeb doesn't believe there is a second ERV just observers, I don't believe we can believe any of that, its beyond belief!!

Frank - that is not what I believe. He rowed back from the "two ERV" wording which was implied in haste and immediately retracted. And the facts, which are that IH had its observers competent to monitor, are not changed by whether they are called ERV or not.

Quote from Abd

I'll say this again: IH has not lost credibility at all. Rossi has. I see the private conversations of LENR researchers. It has turned drastically negative, and some stories are being told that were not disclosed until now. I cannot give specifics, but .... many serious LENR researchers are angry. Rossi's claims, they alleged, caused funding for other approaches to LENR to largely disappear. After all, if you are working on something, maybe you can get 10 watts reliably (which would be a good result in LENR), a megawatt power plant in operation makes that look silly. In fact, if Rossi were to disappear, there is little strong evidence for NiH reactions, and only scattered reports, with little independent confirmation.

Abd, I agree with pretty well all of your comments in the post this is extracted from. And Ni-H has always looked on the "more pseudo" side of LENR research.

Consider this. If IH does not give Rossi - and it seems to me very unlikely he will extract much from them, they will have even more money free (I hope) to fund proper LENR research.

Quote from Jed

I think you should take both press releases at face value. They mean what they say. Rossi believes the device produces 50 times input. Whereas I.H. believes the tests failed to "substantiate" the claim. One of them has to be mistaken. There is no way a machine that produces 50 times input would fail to "substantiate" the effect.

I am with you in this. Simple answers are always preferred.

Rossi's ability to self-deceive over test results is history (that Swedish test that showed COP=1 from independent testing and was just not believed by Rossi).

Rossi's tendency to view those who don't agree with him as snakes is similarly recorded.

Quote from Thomas Clarke

If IH does not give Rossi - and it seems to me very unlikely he will retract much from them, they will have even more money free (I hope) to fund proper LENR research.

Consider this: If IH did pay Rossi $89 Million (assuming the plant worked for now), which I don't think they have even with recent investments, then IH would have no money for their other projects or their own E-Cat license-related activities. Sure they might be able to raise more money, which would dilute their position probably to a very minor position (the original investors are already diluted to something like 1/6 owners collectively, due to the Woodford deal). Eventually they could even be diluted to insignificance by the newer shareholders. Meanwhile Leonardo moves along, well funded. Not a good position for IH.
**Just another viewpoint, not a statement of probability or assessing blame.**

Eric Walker wrote: "I think the part about there being a second ERV was a misunderstanding that is still floating around. What we know of IH's objection (which is very little) does not require that there have been a second ERV. What is needed is a dissenting opinion from a technically competent person, possibly an observer, which the license agreement allowed for. . . ."

Yes! That is all I meant. Three people are listed in the lawsuit filing. I am sure that I.H. sent various observers. So, I just meant that I.H.'s experts disagree with Penon. That's what the press release says. They were not able to "substantiate" the reaction. Okay, that is a little vague, but surely it means their experts do not think it produced 50 times input.

I did not mean there is another ERV official report. I don't know where that came from, but I did not mean to say it. I just meant "I.H. disagrees." That's what they said!

I know nothing about the contracts or business arrangements, except what is in the lawsuit filing, which gives me a headache to read.

Jeb

Are there two ERV reports?

Regards
Frank

Shane D. wrote: "IMO, if Jed is going to be IH's pipeline to us, he might want to stop referring to Penon as an 'certified idiot" . . .

I think he is an idiot, based on his 2012 report. Read it and decide for yourself. Would you prefer I hide my opinion of him?

". . . and be careful with his legal opinions about the case."

Oh give me a break! I have as much right to express opinions as anyone else. I have experience in business and in lawsuits. In my opinion no judge will compel a company to pay $89 million on the basis of one report. If I.H. can demonstrate that expert witness such as licensed HVAC engineer disagree with the report, I expect they will win.

On the other hand, if expert witnesses say the machine does produce 50 times input, I expect Rossi will win.

"Unless, that is what his IH source is telling him, and he is just passing it on?"

IH has told me ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about the lawsuit, or their business. I would never ask. I have only discussed scientific issues with them. My opinions about the lawsuit are entirely my own.

Jed

See reference: Craig Haynie Tue, 12 Apr 2016 18:26:58 -0700
On 04/12/2016 07:59 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote:

Your response: Two things:

1. There is more than one ERV.

Who are the others? IH has the right, in the agreement, to have advisors who question and observe the ERV, but they don't sign the final document.

2. It would be insane to pay $89 million based on a report written by Penon. I would not pay 89 cents. It would be insane to agree he is an expert. I am sure I.H. did not do that.

At least that is what is recorded on Re: [Vo]:Next Big Future - goes out on a limb. My apologies if this is not correct but you can see how we might have got the wrong impression from this, apologies again.

Best regards
Frank

frankwtu asks:

"Are there two ERV reports?"

How the hell would I know?! I never said there were two. Rossi says there is one, written by Penon. The lawsuit lists three people involved in the evaluation. I am pretty sure one of them is from I.H. I am 100% sure that I.H. sent various experts to observe the tests at times.

All I know is that the experts at I.H. disagree with Rossi's conclusions. That is what the March 10 statement said, and what their press release responding to the lawsuit said. Rossi said the gadget produces 50 times input, and I.H. said they "failed" to "substantiate" the results. If that is not a clear disagreement, what would be?

Do you think I.H. will hand over $89 million even though their experts say they failed to substantiate the results? Just because Penon wrote a report they disagree with? In what universe would that happen?

I cannot say which side is correct, but I trust the skills and and abilities at I.H. more than I trust Rossi's or Penon's. Rossi has conducted many bad experiments. He almost blew up the people from NASA. Penon wrote an inept report in 2012. The I.H. people seem sharp to me, but that is just my impression. It is not scientific data.

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I think he is an idiot, based on his 2012 report. Read it and decide for yourself.

Anyone interested should read it. The idiocy is very obvious even at a non-technical level. Add a little bit of tech stuff and even more comes through.

Jed

Do you think Woodford, Cherokee, and the Chinese investors trusted Rossi and Penon, if so why? Could it be they were influenced by Darden et al? If not, why did it drag on for so long with the positive hype from Darden? Who gets to keep the investment from Woodford, Cherokee, and the Chinese investors?

Tom - on Penon's 2012 report

Quote from Thomas Clarke

The idiocy is very obvious even at a non-technical level

Why was it not obvious to Darden, Woodford, Cherokee and the Chinese, they all had their observers in the container I understand, were they also idiots?

Best regards
Frank

Quote from Paradigmnoia

Consider this: If IH did pay Rossi $89 Million (assuming the plant worked for now), which I don't think they have even with recent investments, then IH would have no money for their other projects or their own E-Cat license-related activities.

I would not assume that. There are rumours of $50M form Woodford, and $200M from the Chinese. These come from Rossi and therefore I'd not trust them much. In any case we do not know what money has been given, and what money is contingent on a good long-term test. Obviously the latter has now vanished.

But - we also cannot assume that IH have not been lucky and already extracted $250M or whatever.

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On the other hand, if expert witnesses say the machine does produce 50 times input, I expect Rossi will win.

That is possible - but...

If IH can prove that they have not been able to get anything to work, and Rossi has not responded when they've asked him to help (they may have an e-mail trail) then Rossi will have clearly contravened the license terms and therefore cannot win. Though exactly how that combines with everything else I don't know.

frankwtu wrote:

Your response: Two things:

"1. There is more than one ERV."

Well, I meant there are three designated expert people in the lawsuit filing: Penon, Barry West and Fulvio Fabiani. I guess I thought an "ERV" is a person. I apologize for not using the term "ERV" correctly. I assumed all three will report their results. I guess the contract says Penon is the designated expert.

Soon after I said that I listed the names of the people, so that's who I meant.

"Who are the others?"

Barry West and Fulvio Fabiani, as I said.

"IH has the right, in the agreement, to have advisors who question and observe the ERV, but they don't sign the final document."

I don't know who signed the final document. If that's what the contract says, I misunderstood. Sorry about that.

"2. It would be insane to pay $89 million based on a report written by Penon. I would not pay 89 cents. It would be insane to agree he is an expert. I am sure I.H. did not do that."

I meant it would insane for them to commit to paying $89 million no matter what the report says, no matter how bad it may be, and no matter what their own expert observer says. If that were the deal, Penon could write two line report: "It works. Pay up." And they would have to pay. That's absurd.

Also, I have a low opinion of Penon, based on his 2012 work.

Naturally, if expert witnesses say it is a good report, then they should pay up. If I.H.'s own experts had agreed it is good, surely they would have. They want cold fusion to succeed. $89 million is a cheap price to pay for a gadget that produces 50 times input.

Quote from deleo on Mats site

It should be noted that IH has made contradictory statements about Rossi before. When Louis Brayboy from the North Carolina HHS met with JT Vaughn at the IH facility in Raleigh in December 2014 to see if there were radioactive materials there, Vaughn said more or less that “Rossi and the e-cat did not appear credible”.

And then after that in his 2015 interview Darden publicly said:

Q: So you’re optimistic?A: Yes, In fact, Rossi was awarded an important U.S. patent recently, which is part of what we licensed, covering the use of nickel, platinum or palladium powders, as well as other components, in his heat-producing device. This is one of very few LENR-related patents to date.

Also Paul Farrow from Woodford Funds made the statement below.

PAUL FARROW:August 18, 2015Hi John,Many thanks for your comment and we’d like to reassure you that we do follow a thorough due diligence process for all our investments, irrespective of their size or the fund they are invested in.With regard to Industrial Heat, we were, and have been, very aware of the scepticism about this technology. We have undertaken a rigorous due diligence process that has taken two and half years. The company is currently working with numerous scientists and is acquiring both the technology and teams required to maximise the potential of this, and other, new energy technologies.

So while this may not be a huge deal I think the contradictory statements mean something. Either Vaughn lied to the NC State government official about Rossi not being credible or IH and Woodford were not truthful in their public statements about Rossi after that. The Vaughn comment to the State Inspector may seem like a white lie, but I don’t think so – we are talking about radioactive materials, something both state governments and the federal government care a lot about. If Vaughn said Rossi was credible that would likely have caused the Inspector to notify state officials in Florida to follow up at that location, and he would also likely let Federal officials know. But by saying Rossi is not credible there is a clear contradiction here. I see problems for IH with these statements.

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I had not put that together. I think it is interesting, but I also disagree with the conclusions.

What we get from this is that IH, and Woodford, were well aware that Rossi was a dubious character who lied.

I think it likely that what convinced them both was the scientific due diligence (those many tests, including Lugano which appeared to be high quality).

They could find many scientific advisors who would be convinced by that. In which case they would reckon they were dealing with an eccentric and untrustworthy but nevertheless brilliant genius who had the goods.

I think the communication between non-science types and scientific advisors is sometimes a bit rough because the non-technical people will not know how to appraise critically the differing scientific advice they get.

I see no evidence here to allege wrong-doing. Heavens - people here have been painting Rossi consistently as a saint in spite of contrary indications 10,000X as strong as this!

Of course, I cannot rule out wrong-doing. It is just I like the simplest solution and "foolishness" is always more common than "fraud".

Quote from Thomas Clarke

But - we also cannot assume that IH have not been lucky and already extracted $250M or whatever.

If IH has attracted this much investment ($250 million), the original seed investors are collectively diluted below 10% ownership. They can be out-voted easily by their stronger investors, and directors given the boot and replaced.

I don't think that $200 million was invested by the Chinese into IH, however. If I am not mistaken, it was the total investment into into a business park, some of which may, or may not, be devoted to LENR research.

frankwtu asks: "Do you think Woodford, Cherokee, and the Chinese investors trusted Rossi and Penon, if so why?"

I have never heard of Woodford or the Chinese investors and I have no earthly notion who they trust or whether they have heard of Rossi and Penon. Where did you hear of these people? From Rossi's blog? I don't read it. I know nothing about his business, and nothing about I.H.'s.

Cherokee is Darden's company, isn't it?

I've heard of Rossi and Penon. I spent a couple of days at the Williamsburg conference talking to the people from NASA that Rossi almost blew up. Based on that, not only do I not trust him, I would be wary of going into a room where one of his machines is operating. The outlet hose was plugged up, steam was leaking out the seams, the temperature was climbing, and they realized there was no pressure relief valve on it! Cra-zee.

He reminds me of Ohmori, who used to experiment with large open test tubes of boiling toxic electrolyte, spewing and fuming onto the table. Yikes!