I think a lot of people are confused by this. On the universal scale energy is not created. We aren't creating energy with any of our energy sources just extracting stored up energy for power. What we are rely talking about is "power" in terms of energy in a form that is useful. With any energy source that we use the question is whether more power put in by human reaction is required than what is gained.
I'm pretty sure at the moment it takes more energy to run the generator. It's a cool find nonetheless. Maybe something big can come out of this in the next couple of years. Crude oil is safe... for now. This inventor should go into hiding... he's #1 on the oil companies' hitlist...
My plan involves putting animals on a treadmill, release the gas and watching them try to run away from the smell
Difference is, with hydrocarbons, the stored energy that is released is much greater than the energy we must expend to release it. With the burning saltwater, the stored energy that is released is much LESS (or so I assume) than the energy we expend to release it. I mean, powering a radio wave generator? That sounds like a device that sucks at least 1.21 gigawatts of electricity. *rim shot*
power is not conserved. it's a different thing than energy (it's energy per unit time). but energy isn't even created locally. it's not just a universal scale. in any system, the total energy inputed equals the total energy out. what most people perceive as creating energy is really the tranformation of it from potential to kinetic. but to say that water can produce energy and still be water afterwards is just ludicrous.