It’s been a while since we looked at Irish “free energy” company Steorn; they’ve been dangling tantalising titbits of their technology in front of us for a couple of years now, starting with the bold claim in 2006 that they have a technology which produces “free, clean and constant energy”. If true, this statement would pretty much turn the last hundred years of established physics upside down which is why we’re treating it with a fair degree of healthy scepticism.

The last minute cancellation of a public demonstration in 2007 didn’t do much to help their cause, since we’ve still seen no evidence that “Orbo” actually exits in any tangible form, or what precisely it is going to do for us.

Still – new year, new press release. The website recently got a facelift with some new details – we should see some magnetic bearings and a measurement system arrive this year, and an E-learning system to educate us all in the benefits of Orbo by the end of the year.

All of which would be great, except the E-learning system will be initially limited to 300 “qualified” people so the rest of us will have to wait a bit longer for our magnet powered cars (or even some info on how they might be built).

That it for now folks, come back in 2010 and the story might have unfolded some more! If you want the full saga, Wikipedia has an excellent entry detailing the history of the past few years.