Yes, it's true that cold fusion isn't, itself, perpetual motion. It does indeed meet that standard. My invocation of perpetual motion is as a fencepost. If you

Yes, it's true that cold fusion isn't, itself, perpetual motion. It does indeed meet that standard. My invocation of perpetual motion is as a fencepost. If you can get people to believe in that, you can get them to believe in anything. People like clean energy sources. They have good reasons – logical and factual reasons – to desire them. They also don't understand them very well. This has been true for centuries, as illustrated by the history of perpetual-motion scams, and thus it will likely remain true for the foreseeable future. People want to believe, and they will.