The E-CAT needs heat to get to operating temperature and I noticed that the E-CAT HT drive could be
natural gas see http://ecat.com/ecat-products/ecat-ht-hot-cat-prototype.
Natural gas operation would give it a very low hourly cost to operate as natural gas is 1/3 the
cost of electricity. In the United States natural gas is cheap and plentiful, and if
we use it wisely it could make it last many times longer than we expect. It can also be sourced
via biogas which would be sustainable long-term.
For those not connected to a natural gas supply propane could be used. Since the heat amplification
is 6X the high cost of propane would be mitigated somewhat.