#1308: Sterling D. Allan

Sterling D. Allan is the founder and CEO of PES Network, Inc. and the New Energy Congress. As such, Allan is among the most tireless and misguided proponents of free energy pseudoscience and free energy conspiracy theories there is. He is also founder of the New Energy Systems Trust (NEST), which is supposed “to help bring these technologies to market.” Needless to say, he hasn’t had much luck yet.

In fairness Allan and his partners (including in particular one Hank Mills) do their bit to promote more “traditional” forms of renewable energy as well, but Allan’s advocacy would probably have carried more weight were it not mired in support for cold fusion, Andrea Rossi’s Energy Catalyzer and such idiocy, including a plethora of magnetic motor schemes, none of which has achieved anything resembling success. Indeed, Allan has apparently worked rather closely with Rossi, which suggests that he either really, really wants to believe, despite all reason and evidence, or something else. Apparently, Allen’s organizations have, from starting out as pretty reasonable, moved further and further into crackpot land – and part of the problem is apparently precisely that Allan has, it seems, entered into various business endeavors with the people he promotes, starting with Mark Brady and his “amazing” Perendev Motor in 2003.

Of course, as people located in these particular areas are wont to (for sheer, sad critical thinking failure, this post is hard to beat), Allan more than frequently lapses into ludicrous conspiracy mongering (of the kind you’ll usually encounter on Coast to Coast AM – oh yeah, Allan has been there, done that), and you will find plenty of articles blaming the lack of success for these alternative energy systems not only on opposition from energy companies, but assassination attempts organized by the US government. At least he seems – contrary to many of his fellow free energy enthusiast – to try to argue that his ideas are consistent with the existing laws of physics (not always clear how) instead of trying to argue that the laws of thermodynamics are wrong … oh, never mind.

To his fans, Allan seems to have all the trappings of your usual brave maverick scientists, armed with every version of the Galileo gambit you can imagine. Equally unsurprisingly he spends quite a bit of effort lamenting the close-mindedness of skeptics unwilling to accept his claims on face value and nebulous handwaiving.

Diagnosis: Allan seems, in fact, to be one of the more influential internet crackpots out there at the moment, and should accordingly be watched. He is, to be honest, probably rather harmless, but the world (and not the least the Internet) would have been such a much better place if he had spent his efforts on something other than chasing shadows that aren’t there (while claiming that he’s got them).