Comment by jasonjmcghee

Comment by jasonjmcghee 9 hours ago

8 replies

View on Hacker News

I've periodically seen lightcell and danielle fong in various news / reddit /forums over the last few years and it always seems to be steeped in controversy.

I know next to nothing about the field / tech, but a portion of folks seem to be like "incredible visionary etc. etc." and the another portion like "fringe science / complete bullshit / this is as realistic as cold fusion" kind of thing.

Very interested to hear from folks more in the know of like, high level long term viability / what the implications are etc.

thot_experiment 8 hours ago

It's a very good idea that is worth pursuing, they are pursuing it. There are many many many problems that need solving between here and "this is a better way to make energy from heat at scale than turning water into steam and spinning a turbine". The science is fundamentally sound but we're nowhere near economic viability.

Reply View 0 replies
sesm 6 hours ago

It's not like cold fusion, the lightcell is based on well-understood physics. The author may be too optimistic with efficiency claim, but those are relatively easy to verify independently.

Reply View 0 replies
EA-3167 4 hours ago

She seems like someone with an eye for a clever solution to an existing problem, an eye for funding (her compressed air "LightSail" thing raised over $70 million), and maybe a somewhat shaky relationship with practicality.

Reply View 3 replies