Comment and Opinion

Lutec Australia Pty Ltd
(This site disappeared in 2012. Apparently there was not enough perpetual free energy to keep the lights on.)
System for Controlling a Rotary Device
(And this one disappeared in 2022, but there was a copy)

Lutec – all the energy that you can eat (13/4/2002)
One of the great nonsenses of pseudoscience that never seems to go away is the perpetual motion machine. They aren't called that these days, of course, because everyone knows that such things are impossible. The new name is "free energy device", but the principle is the same. A recent example of this genre is the Lutec 100, a generator which, according to the inventors, is 3000% efficient. The Lutec people once said that they were going to accept the $100,000 challenge from the Australian Skeptics, but for some reason they eventually lost interest. They were awarded the 2001 Bent Spoon Award for their efforts at overthrowing physics. I thought I would see where they were up to in their attempt to solve all the world's energy problems, so I sent them the following email. I have not yet received a reply, but if I could predict the future I would say that the reply will either be a set of answers to some other questions or some abuse and patronising suggestions that I don't understand what they are doing.

I was planning a feature article for the next edition of my web site, The Millenium Project, dealing with perpetual motion machines and the schemes that have been set up over the years to try to encourage investors to finance these daydreams.

Someone mentioned the Lutec 1000 to me, and I wonder if you could explain how your perpetual motion machine differs from all the ones that have gone before. I notice that Joseph Newman has claimed that your ideas are actually his, so perhaps explaining the differences between his theories and yours might be a good place to start. I see that the Keelynet people are enthusiastic about your machine, although I assume that you are not using Keely's method of driving the machine with compressed air stored in the frame and chassis.

I am a bit puzzled by your analogy which compares a permanent magnet to an electromagnet to hold a weight, which seems to imply that anything which can maintain something in position against the force of gravity is some kind of an example of stored, available energy. I assume that you do not extend this analogy to the screws holding the light fitting to the ceiling above my desk. I realise that, in a sense, they "store" the potential energy involved in raising the fitting to ceiling height against the force of gravity, but you must mean more than that trite explanation.

Is there a working model of your machine anywhere that can be observed continuously for a meaningful amount of time? I don't mean just for a few hours (Dennis Lee has been pulling that trick at his demonstrations for years), but for several days, or even weeks, watched by an independent observer. I realise that running an over-unity machine without load could cause the thing to speed up to the point where mechanical forces cause the components to fail, but it should be possible to connect the output to some sort of braking device to dissipate the energy produced. Perhaps it could be connected to a dynamometer, which would serve the dual purposes of absorbing the energy and providing a measurement of output at the same time. I assume that you have run such a demonstration at some time in the past, and I know many people who would be prepared to take shifts observing your machine running without input (but producing excess energy) over a period of several weeks or months.

Like everyone, I am excited by the idea of free energy. Australia might have a lot of coal and sunlight, but a limitless source like the Lutec 1000 could provide all the energy needed for desalination of the water we need to turn the entire continent from desert into the most productive agricultural land on Earth and to power our manufacturing and mining industries. We could then use the fossil fuels exclusively as feedstock to manufacture all the consumer and luxury goods that we could ever want. No government of business organisation could not want this, so there should be nothing standing in your way.

If it works.

I received the following reply. I guess I will just have to wait.

Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 12:12:15 +1000
Subject: Re: The Lutec 1000
From: "john christie"

Hi Peter, you will, just like everybody else, have to wait and see. Incidentally, we dont take peoples money, we dont want it. Regards

John Christie.

Speaking of fraud … (3/11/2007)
Because of Australia's ridiculous and draconian defamation laws I have to the very careful what I say here.

In 2002 I wrote to the developers of what appeared to be a perpetual motion machine to offer help in assessing the device. The reply I received from one of the principals of the company said the following (you can read the complete exchange here):

Hi Peter, you will, just like everybody else, have to wait and see. Incidentally, we dont take peoples money, we dont want it. Regards

Looking at he front page of the Lutec Australia Pty Ltd web site today I see:

The reference to "sophisticated investors" is a way of circumventing the legal requirement for a company to issue a prospectus if it wants to make a public offer to sell shares. A prospectus has to be approved by the relevant authorities before being issued and there are severe penalties for inaccuracies in a prospectus. As a reasonable case could be made that statements like "A TYPICAL LEA SYSTEM IS 440% OVERUNITY" could be seen as inaccurate if the reference is to something existing in the real world, it is very handy that there is a loophole in the law which might allow the promoters of such a scheme to gather a million dollars without the inconvenience of having to issue a legal document saying what they want the money for. A "sophisticated investor" is a legal fiction. It is someone who is assumed to be capable of making investment decisions based on an independent assessment of the risk, whereas a normal investor needs to be told things like financial details and projections, scientific evidence for scientific claims, and the truth.

I thought that the relevant authorities might like to know about Lutec, and you can see complaint number 75880137 to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission here.

The Lutec perpetual motion I-can't-say-scam (24/11/2007)
More news about Lutec, who have achieved 440% efficiency out of a free energy machine. One of the regular visitors to this site wrote to the promoters. (I will keep his name out of this because I don't want Lutec harassing him.) He kindly provided me with a copy of his email and the reply from the company:

Subject: Perpetual motion fantasies...

Hi,

After a careful reading of your site I can confidently conclude that you people are (a) crooks, or (b) morons, or very possibly both (a) and (b).

Whatever the case, I shall be lodging my complaint with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission forthwith.

Have a lousy day.

And this was the professional reply from a company trying to raise a million dollars from investors:

Dear Donkey,

we don't have perpetual motion, I don't mined you having a fantasy. Further, you may be able to read the words, obviously you don't understand them.

Have a shit day donkey crook, donkey moron.

Lu

In more Lutec news,I have received a reply to my complaint to the authorities about Lutec's scheme to bypass the laws giving protection to investors. I don't know if any real action will be taken, but at least Lutec is now on the radar at ASIC. You can click on the picture to see the letter I received. I encourage everyone in Australia to go here to lodge a formal complaint about Lutec's money-raising activities. To save you having to look them up, the name of the company being complained about is LUTEC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD (I think the name has to be entered in capitals) and the Australian Company Number is 071 943 185. Don't forget to write to Lutec at admin@lutec.com.au to tell them what you have done. You to might get a nice, friendly email reply.

Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:27:21 +1030
Subject: lutec free energy
From: Harry

Just reading posts on a website I assume is yours

That is usually the case when you follow an email link on a web site.

about the lutec free energy device. I assume you still think lutec are crooks. What is funny to me, is that you are wrong.

So they really do have a perpetual motion machine! When are they going to stop asking for money and start showing us how all of physics is wrong? By the way, telling me I'm wrong without offering more information is not the way to convince me of anything.

You can see someone else's comments about the Lutec machine and its inventors here:
Part 1
Part 2