Steorn

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Steorn Ltd.
Type Private Limited
Founded Dublin, Ireland (2000)
Headquarters Docklands Innovation Park, East Wall Road Dublin 3, Ireland
Key people Seán McCarthy (Chief Executive Officer)
Roger Hatfield (Chief Financial Officer)
Michael Daly (Chief Operations Officer)
Michael Moriarty (Corporate Finance and Strategy)
Richard Walshe (Marketing Manager)
Industry Information and energy technology
Products None (R&D based company)
Revenue € 1,000 (2005) [1]
Employees fewer than 20
Website http://www.steorn.com

Steorn Ltd. is a small privately held technology development company based in Dublin, Ireland.

The company drew the attention of the mainstream media in August 2006 by placing a full-page advertisement in The Economist, claiming to have developed a technology that produces "free, clean, and constant energy" and challenging the scientific community to review its claim.[2][a] In December 2006 the company announced that they had chosen a jury of scientists to test their claim.[3]

This is, in essence, a claim that the company has developed free energy technology, or a perpetual motion machine. Such technology would violate the fundamental laws of thermodynamics particularly the first law. To date, no evidence supporting the company's claim has been made available to the public.

Contents

[edit] About the company

[edit] Company history

Steorn was founded in 2000[4] and, in October 2001, their website stated that they were a "specialist service company providing programme management and technical assessment advice for European companies engaging in e-commerce projects". Steorn (pronounced [stjɔːn] in UK English or [stjɔrn] in US English) is a Norse word meaning to guide or manage.

In May 2006, The Sunday Business Post reported that Steorn was a former dot.com business which was developing a microgenerator product based on the same principle as kinetic energy generators in watches, as well as creating ecommerce websites for customers. The company had also recently raised about €2.5 million from "high net worth individuals", and was three years into a four year development plan for its microgenerator technology.[5] Steorn has since stated that the account given in this interview was part of a "crisis management plan" to prevent a leak of the free energy claim.[6]

[edit] Financial history

Steorn's accounts for the year ending December 31, 2003,[7] show that the company's Profit and Loss Account had an accumulated loss of € 192,661, while its cash reserves were € 94.

An update to the company's web site on February 9, 2007 includes an informal summary of the company's accounts as of 2006.[1] The summary shows pre-tax losses of €779,047, €1,815,666, and €3,247,938 in 2004, 2005, and 2006, respectively.

The company's investment history shows share allotments for cash in August 2000, January 2001, March 2001, March 2004, then several rounds in December 2004, and one in October 2005.[7] The investments amount to €3 million in total.[5] The company has stated that it will not seek or accept further investment until their free energy claim has been validated.[8]

[edit] Free-energy claim

The Orbo logo
The Orbo logo

[edit] Announcement

In August 2006 Steorn placed an advertisement in The Economist to publicise its claim of discovering a free-energy device.[2] A press release "issued a challenge to the global scientific community" to validate its claims.[9] Steorn reported that, within hours of its advertisement, it was contacted by hundreds of scientists world-wide and many thousands of other interested people.[10]

Steorn's advertisement in The Economist stated:

“ we have developed a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy. Our technology has been independently validated by engineers and scientists — always behind closed doors, always off the record, always proven to work.[2] ”

In explaining their claim, Steorn have further stated that, by free, they mean that "the energy produced is done so without recourse to external sources"; by clean they mean that "during operation the technology produces no emissions"; and by constant they mean that "with the exception of mechanical failure the technology will continue to operate indefinitely". Steorn believes that the sum of these claims is that their technology is a violation of the principle of conservation of energy.[11]

Steorn maintains that its invention has already been validated by no fewer than eight unnamed independent scientists and engineers "with multiple PhDs from world-class universities", and found to work, but that none of them were willing to publish their results for fear of becoming embroiled in a controversy. The company has declined to name them, citing mutually binding non-disclosure agreements.[12]

On February 9, 2007, Steorn stated that their technology would be available for license under the brand name "Orbo".[13]

[edit] Validation process

Steorn claimed that their advertisement in The Economist was to attract the attention of the world's leading scientists working in the field of experimental physics, challenging them to test their free energy technology.[9][14] They intended that twelve scientists would be invited to take part in a rigorous testing exercise to prove that Steorn’s technology creates free energy and to publish the results worldwide.[9]

On 1 December 2006 Steorn announced that a jury had been selected and had signed contracts, although their identities were not released.[3] The validation process reportedly began in January 2007[15][16] but no reports on the progress of the validation process have been released to date.

[edit] Failed demonstration

On 4 July 2007 a simplified example of the technology was to be put on public display at the Kinetica Museum, Spitalfields Market, London. It was said that the displayed unit would be constructed of clear plastic to show the arrangement of magnets and demonstrate that the device operated without external power sources.[17][18] The public demonstration was delayed and then cancelled due to "technical difficulties". Steorn initially suggested this resulted from "excessive heat from the lighting in the main display area"[18][19] but later blamed the failure on damage they said was done in turn to each of five bearings due to a greenhouse effect within the box.[20]

[edit] Details of the technology

Seán McCarthy has stated in an RTÉ radio interview that, "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. Once the technology operates it provides a constant stream of clean energy."[21]

The device has been reported to be an all-magnet motor, with no electromagnetic component.[22] Following a meeting between McCarthy and Professor Sir Eric Ash in July 2007, Ash reported that "the Orbo is a mechanical device which uses powerful magnets on the rim of a rotor and further magnets on an outer shell"[23]

In a demonstration to The Guardian at Steorn's office in August 2006, a computer display reported the device to have an efficiency of 285%. The article goes on to say that Steorn claims to have measured efficiencies up to 400%.[12] Steorn also claims that the device could be scaled to almost any size, powering anything from a flashlight to an airplane.[24]

[edit] Arguments against the claim

Steorn claims to violate the first law of thermodynamics, a fundamental principle of physics.[25] In particular, Steorn claims to violate the law using "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". Barry Williams of the Australian Skeptics has pointed out that Steorn is "not the first company to claim they have suddenly discovered the miraculous property of magnetism that allows you to get free energy".[25]

Eric Ash has stated that:

“ Denying its [the law of conservation of energy] validity would undermine not just little bits of science - the whole edifice would be no more... There is no flexibility in the acceptance of the law as true. ”

Following a July 2007 meeting with McCarthy, Ash was of the opinion that McCarthy was truly convinced in the validity of his invention, but that this conviction was a case of "prolonged self deception" and that he should go back to software engineering.[23]

Robert L. Park, a professor of physics at the University of Maryland, College Park criticizes Steorn for not opening up their technology for public inspection, and for having pitched their claim directly to the media. He considers this to be an important indicator that a scientific claim lies well outside the bounds of rational scientific discourse.[26][27]

Eric Berger, writing on the Houston Chronicle website, commented that:

“

Recall that Steorn is a former e-business company that saw its market vanish during the dot.com bust. It stands to reason that Steorn has re-tooled as a Web marketing company, and is using the "free energy" promotion as a platform to show future clients how it can leverage print advertising and a slick Web site to promote their products and ideas. If so, it's a pretty brilliant strategy.[28]

 ”

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

a. ^ The usual cost for such an advertisement according to the Economist's published costings was GBP £85200.[29]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Steorn Investor Relations. Steorn Ltd. (2006-02-09). Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  2. ^ a b c Copy of Steorn advertisement as further reported in The Observer (PDF). The Economist. Retrieved on 2007-06-14.
  3. ^ a b Steorn finalises contracts for jury to test its free energy technology. Steorn (1 December 2006). Retrieved on 2007-07-06.
  4. ^ "Wanted: scientists to test free energy technology", Irish Examiner, 20 August 2006. Retrieved on 2006-08-20. 
  5. ^ a b Daly, Gavin. "Firm strives to extend mobile battery lifespans", ThePost.IE, May 21, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-25. 
  6. ^ Energy Issues. Steorn (1 October 2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-26.
  7. ^ a b Steorn Company Submissions. Companies Registration Office. Retrieved on 2006-10-16.
  8. ^ General. Steorn (11 October 2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-21.
  9. ^ a b c Steorn develops free energy technology and issues challenge to the global scientific community. Steorn Ltd. (2006-08-18). Retrieved on 2006-10-17.
  10. ^ Scientists flock to test 'free energy' discovery. Guardian Unlimited (20 August 2006). Retrieved on 2006-08-20.
  11. ^ Steorn: Our Claim. Steorn Ltd. Retrieved on 2007-04-12.
  12. ^ a b "These men think they're about to change the world", The Guardian, August 25, 2006. 
  13. ^ Orbo - The Magnetic Free-Energy Generator from Steorn. Steorn Ltd. (2007-02-09). Retrieved on 2007-02-09.
  14. ^ Steorn announces plans for widespread deployment of its free energy technology post-validation. Steorn (2007-01-11). Retrieved on 2007-07-06.
  15. ^ The Steorn Validation Process. Steorn. Retrieved on 2006-07-06.
  16. ^ Q1 Update Video. Steorn (2007-04-13). Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  17. ^ "'Free' energy technology goes on display", The Irish Times, 2007-07-04. Retrieved on 2007-07-05. 
  18. ^ a b "Irish firm promise to display 'free-energy' machine", Belfast Telegraph, 2007-07-05. 
  19. ^ Steorn announcement: Kinetica Demonstration (2007-07-06). Retrieved on 2007-06-05.
  20. ^ Michael Schirber " Harsh light shines on free energy", Physics World Volume 20 Number 8 August 2007 p. 9
  21. ^ "Irish company challenges scientists to test 'free energy' technology", Yahoo! News, August 18, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-09-03. 
  22. ^ "Steorn to Push Tipping Point for Magnet Motor Technology", Pure Energy Systems News, August 21, 2006. 
  23. ^ a b "The perpetual myth of free energy", BBC News, 2007-07-09. Retrieved on 2007-07-09. 
  24. ^ "Free, Clean Energy For All?", ABC News, August 23, 2006. 
  25. ^ a b "Irish energy miracle 'a joke'", The Age, August 20, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-08-20. 
  26. ^ The Chronicle: 1/31/2003: The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science
  27. ^ calladus.blogspot.com
  28. ^ Berger, Eric (August 19, 2006). Steorn and free energy: the plot thickens. SciGuy. Houston Chronicle blogs. Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
  29. ^ Advertising Rates £ (PDF). Advertising Information. The Economist (2006). Retrieved on 2006-08-19.

[edit] External links