A former Tasmanian businessman of the year, who failed to raise oil from the state's Central Highlands after years of searching, is promoting an invention that has raised some eyebrows.
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The Thunderstorm Generator, which claims to convert exhaust fumes into oxygen using sacred geometry, is believed by some to be legitimate science but criticised by others as being pseudo-science.
Its inventor Malcolm Bendall, who claimed to receive a vision from God in 1977, has a history with Tasmania.
Mr Bendall believed that an oil resource of more than 668 million barrels lay undiscovered in the state.
In 2000 he formed the public company Great South Land Minerals (GSLM) and attracted thousands of investors.
The company went on to spend more than $64 million in its search for oil in Tasmania but became insolvent in 2012 owing monies to a diverse range of stakeholders, including many Tasmanians.
Now Mr Bendall is behind the invention called the Thunderstorm Generator, which was presented at this month's Cosmic Summit in the US.
He has connections with self-professed renegade scholar Randall Carson, who specialises in the culture of ancient civilisations, and controversial podcaster Joe Rogan.
What is the Thunderstorm Generator?
Mr Bendall's invention can be retrofitted to engines to convert carbon into oxygen.
It is an engine system that claims to convert exhaust pollutants such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons into oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, using sacred geometry and increasing levels of plasma.
The out-there technology is widely available to the public, with the Strike Foundation stating that it has released Mr Bendall's intellectual property, including notes and diagrams, 'for the benefit of the planet'.
On YouTube more than a year ago Mr Bendall, who labelled himself as a trailblazer, said the timing was right for this technology, and referenced energy pioneer Nikola Tesla and experimental physicist Ken Shoulders.
"To get a vision into reality, to make a dream come true, it is a lot of energy. And we stand on the shoulders of giants. I am a conduit for information," Mr Bendall said.
He said Tesla's free power invention was thwarted due to its inability to make money, and went on to suggest that people should question government and community actions by asking whether what is being done empowers or disempowers individuals and the world.
