Boulder City environmentalist a man with a mission

Talk about no respect.

Gary Vesperman says he knows how to end the world's energy woes.

The Boulder City environmentalist and former Silicon Valley technical writer says he's working with inventors who have cracked the code on age-old physics conundrums, including self-powered electric cars and radioactive-waste treatment. You know, your basic save-the-world kind of stuff.

But Vesperman's associates can't get funds to develop their devices for wide-scale testing. In fact, Vesperman can't even get funds to shill for development funds. He's trying to rustle up $3,500 by Monday to rent a booth to show really alternative energy at the Aug. 30 National Clean Energy Summit at Aria. Focusing on renewables isn't enough, he said.

"I want to make people aware that there are many inventions out there that I'm confident would make obsolete coal, oil, uranium and even wind and solar," Vesperman said. "There's been a communications problem for inventors in trying to publicize what they're doing. I try to bridge that as far as making these inventions understandable and presenting a good case."

Explaining the inventions isn't easy. Take the Moe-Joe orgone energy accumulator, a fuel cell said to charge steam with electricity so that a car can run at least partly on water. Vesperman said the accumulator boosted the mileage in his 1993 Saturn from 30 to 48 miles per gallon, while cutting emissions by 90 percent. But don't ask him how.

"I can't even begin to tell you the math and physics behind it," he said. (Amazon.com does sell a $19 handbook about orgone accumulators.)

Vesperman said that's the problem with many of the devices he promotes. Inventors have creative genius, but they can't always share their ideas in terms an investor understands. Likewise, investors have business sense, but don't often get cutting-edge technologies.

Vesperman also hopes to demonstrate a power generator fueled by the radioactive metal thorium, though he's "not sure how radioactive the thorium would be." He's prepared to show a device that can prove spent nuclear fuel rods could be neutralized using Brown's gas, which contains oxygen and hydrogen, and an implosion similar to ball lightning. Vesperman said bringing radioactive materials onto the show floor may require special arrangements with Homeland Security "so we don't get tangled up with anti-terrorist efforts."

He said he has spoken with sponsor Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., about displaying inventions. Reid's office sounded cautiously interested in new ideas.

The summit "is a forum for entrepreneurs, thinkers and policymakers to come together to chart a path toward a 21st Century clean-energy future that will put Nevadans back to work, bring down costs for consumers and reduce our dependence on foreign oil," said Zac Petkanas, Reid's spokesman in Nevada. "We look forward to the innovative, safe presentations by exhibitors who can contribute toward that goal."

Vesperman said he hopes Reid and others consider the job possibilities.

"There are all kinds of scientists, engineers and inventors who need work," he said. "Rather than give them unemployment benefits, why not put them to work on some of these inventions and see if they can make them go?"

Information about donating to Vesperman's cause is on his website, www.padrak.com/vesperman.