# Irish company invents free energy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2006, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419 "2006-08-20T03:59:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mrrealtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@mrrealtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrrealtime)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/1 "2006-08-20T03:59:47Z")
> **[Steorn - Informasi Teknologi Terkini dan Terbaru](http://www.steorn.com)** > > Steorn merupakan situs yang memberikan Informasi teknologi terbaru dan terupdate Great big scam or what? My concern is, mabey they are pulling energy from one of the other dimensions and causing some major problems for those folks. The real question is…how did this end up in “The Economist” ?? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/2 "2006-08-20T04:19:31Z")
When and how did this company end up in The Economist? I can’t find any mention of it in the magazine’s online index. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/3 "2006-08-20T04:21:47Z")
> [@mrrealtime](#): > > [www.steorn.com](http://www.steorn.com) > > Great big scam or what? My concern is, mabey they are pulling energy from one of the other dimensions and causing some major problems for those folks. > The real question is…how did this end up in “The Economist” ?? To me it sounds like they bought an ad. The Economist will sell ads to anybody, I would wager, on account of them being a magazine. As for the technology, I’ll bet that they jack human bodies into a giant computer and harvest the energy created by the human brain while it thinks it is living in the real world. They need to come up with a catchy name for it, though, something like The Array. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/4 "2006-08-20T04:25:45Z")
All you need to know is on their [Our Technology](http://www.steorn.net/en/technology.aspx?p=5) page. > [@](#): > > During 2005 Steorn embarked on a process of independent validation and approached a wide selection of academic institutions. The vast majority of these institutions refused to even look at the technology, however several did. Those who were prepared to complete testing have all confirmed our claims; however none will publicly go on record. Yeah. Because no academic institution would want their name all over the news that someone has violated a universally accepted law of physics and thereby solved all of mankind’s problems. That makes a lot of sense. > [@](#): > > In early 2006 Steorn decided to seek validation from the scientific community in a more public forum, and as a result have published the challenge in The Economist. > The company is seeking a jury of twelve qualified experimental physicists to define the tests required, the test centres to be used, monitor the analysis and then publish the results. And who’s going to choose these “qualified” physicists? What’s that? You are? Well, that sounds reasonable. > [@](#): > > Steorn has decided to publish its challenge in The Economist because of the breadth of its readership. “We chose it over a purely scientific magazine simply because we want to make the general public aware that this process is about to commence and to generate public support, awareness, interest etc for what we are doing.” Yuh huh. How about “we chose the _Economist_ because _Popular Mechanics_ and _National Geographic_ just gave us odd stares. Also, they don’t have a sense of humor like the _Economist_ does.” So, in short, scam. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/5 "2006-08-20T04:27:56Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > When and how did this company end up in The Economist? I can’t find any mention of it in the magazine’s online index. Dewey, here’s the section from their webpage: > [@Crazy Energy Company](#): > > In early 2006 Steorn decided to seek validation from the scientific community in a more public forum, and as a result have published the challenge in The Economist. The company is seeking a jury of twelve qualified experimental physicists to define the tests required, the test centres to be used, monitor the analysis and then publish the results. > > Steorn has decided to publish its challenge in The Economist because of the breadth of its readership. “We chose it over a purely scientific magazine simply because we want to make the general public aware that this process is about to commence and to generate public support, awareness, interest etc for what we are doing.” sinjin’s translation: We… um… bought an ad in the Economist because… uh, what was I supposed to say? Oh yeah, because that’s where the, that’s where the really um, smart people read. I mean, that’s where they go for news, and stuff. Yeah, physicists they er love the economics of it all. There’re like, twelve physicists who read the Economist, right? Why don’t we do this in Science again? \ Oh, right. We decided to shun Science because they, um, they have a crytofascist review process which is prejudice against innovation. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/6 "2006-08-20T04:33:25Z")
Thanks for the information. Wow, they made it into The Economist by _purchasing an advertisement_. And then they issued a press release about it. Pardon me if I’m a little underwhelmed. ---
**Author:** ![mrrealtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@mrrealtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrrealtime)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/7 "2006-08-20T13:52:20Z")
So their angle appears to be gathering a fairly good sized list of email addresses. Or it could be promoting an as yet unreleased film, or perhaps a means to help producers accept a script. A quick google of “Sean McCarthy” and “Richard Walshe” doesnt appear to be bringing up any relevant information or background on these two. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/8 "2006-08-20T13:58:52Z")
I think their tactic is to yell loud enough so that at least a few idiots will believe them merely due to the volume. At least enough to get some money from it. Since their theory doesn’t have a ghost of a chance to actually be true, the only chance they have is to yell and scream about how the scientific community is out to get them. It’s a merchandising gimmick, not innovation. It works for Joe Newman. ---
**Author:** ![mrrealtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@mrrealtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrrealtime)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/9 "2006-08-20T14:13:48Z")
I should also add the wikipedia page on Steorn seems to have a huge amount of changes, discussion, and history given the short time from the initial press. > **[Steorn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steorn)** > > Steorn Ltd (/ˈstjɔːrn/) was a small, private technology development company based in Dublin, Ireland. In August 2006, it announced that it had developed a technology to provide "free, clean, and constant energy" via an apparent perpetual motion machine, something which is contrary to the law of conservation of energy, a fundamental principle of physics. > Steorn challenged the scientific community to investigate its claim and, in December 2006, said that it had chosen a jury of scientists to do ... ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/10 "2006-08-20T16:38:37Z")
I know exactly what scientists are saying off the record. They’re using words that arn’t fit for the public press. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/11 "2006-08-20T18:02:05Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I think their tactic is to yell loud enough so that at least a few idiots will believe them merely due to the volume. At least enough to get some money from it. > > Since their theory doesn’t have a ghost of a chance to actually be true, the only chance they have is to yell and scream about how the scientific community is out to get them. It’s a merchandising gimmick, not innovation. > > **It works for Joe Newman.** (Bolding mine.) [The Master’s take on Mr Newman](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_401.html) ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/12 "2006-08-29T06:11:17Z")
I just saw this on Neil Cavuto (US News Show). Neil was completely credulous. He said something like “from what little I understand you gather energy by traveling around in a magnetic field”. I have to revise my opinion that Larry Kind is the dumbest guy on television. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/13 "2006-08-29T06:48:44Z")
If those other dimensions can’t figure out how to stop us from stealing their energy, then screw 'em. They’re obviously not smart enough to exist. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/14 "2006-08-29T08:00:26Z")
“What we have developed is a way to construct magnetic fields so that when you travel round the magnetic fields, starting and stopping at the same position, you have gained energy, […] The energy isn’t being converted from any other source such as the energy within the magnet. It’s literally created.” Sounds like the energy is ‘created’ from the energy used to ‘travel round’. In other words, it’s a dynamo; crank the handle and whoopee! free energy! As long as you keep cranking the handle, and as long as you ignore the energy used to crank it. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/15 "2006-08-29T09:14:30Z")
A few comments about the website. I suspect the quality of the site enhanced a lot of the publicity this claim is getting. It’s gorgeous. Really nice design, very professional. If it had been black with huge green letters, instant dismissal. Seems they’ve hired Citigate Dewe Rogerson, a British PR firm. Bad typography in places - I’m guessing it’s built on a .NET CMS, and probably the designer signed it off to the client, who then screwed it up a bit adding new content. The domain is registered to Sean McCarthy, who is presumably the same Sean McCarthy CEO, at Unit 12, Fumbally Court, Dublin 8. I did a wee look on google.ie and there’s only one other organisation registered to that address: [Gay HIV Strategies](http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=%22Unit+12+Fumbally+Court%22+-steorn&btnG=Google+Search&meta=cr%3DcountryIE) - however, that document isn’t dated (and spells “Foreword” wrong), but has a reference to the year 2005 in it. These units on business parks are unlikely to be shared by more than one organisation, but the phone numbers are different, so there may be no connection. But the most telling thing is that nobody has added anything to the Press Clippings page. Hmmm. But, a new site, [Steorn Watch](http://www.steornwatch.com/), skeptical analysis of the claims. They even have an [interview](http://www.steornwatch.com/steorn-live-chat-transcript-24-aug-06-16#more-16) with the CEO, who agreed to participate. It’s worth a read. He seems pretty sincerely to believe the claims, and explains why they’ve gone down the cheap publicity route (because without it they would never get anyone with any credibility to agree to validate it - clever) - but there’s one thing that I find a trifle strange: he doesn’t seek to dominate the industry - just sell the license and move on: “once this is validated we will go off and develop some other cool stuff”. Why wouldn’t you want to exploit such a system? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/16 "2006-08-29T09:18:26Z")
Oh, and their offices are definitely a real address. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/17 "2006-08-29T09:19:40Z")
Could be a classic confidence trick - he’s not interested in selling anything, just stealing money from gullible investors. Or he could just be a (well funded) crazed loon. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/18 "2006-08-29T09:30:20Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > there’s one thing that I find a trifle strange: he doesn’t seek to dominate the industry - just sell the license and move on: “once this is validated we will go off and develop some other cool stuff”. Why wouldn’t you want to exploit such a system? Yeah, that just doesn’t make any sense at all; free energy, if it could be done, would be as fundamentally ground-breaking a technology as, say, manned flight or the whole of semiconductor electronics; it would change _everything_. There’s no way anyone who developed it would just say “Meh, how much d’you reckon I can get to be shot of this thing?” > [@](#): > > I suspect the quality of the site enhanced a lot of the publicity this claim is getting. It’s gorgeous. Really nice design, very professional. It is lovely, isn’t it? I know you’re qualified to be able to make such judgments. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/19 "2006-08-29T09:34:46Z")
On further thought… I suppose it’s just about possible that they have inadvertently struck upon a method of generating energy from the rotation of the Earth; i.e. “when you travel round the magnetic fields, starting and stopping at the same position”, you’re not actually in the same position, because the Earth is turning. That’s not to say I think it’s likely, and I can’t quite get my head around how direct tapping of the Earth’s rotational energy could be done, but if that’s what they’ve achieved (as opposed to real free energy), it would still be quite significant. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419/20 "2006-08-29T10:53:17Z")
So if this catches on, the Earth will eventually grind to a halt? Although Wikipedia says that the Earth has 2.9 x 10[sup]29[/sup] Joules of rotational kinetic energy which is, let’s see, ~10[sup]23[/sup] kWh, so maybe not a huge concern just yet. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-company-invents-free-energy/369419.md?page=2)