The psychopaths in control (by virtue of money) swoop in on any tech a patent is filed for and will buy it out and bury it, and if sale is not forthcoming, They will resort to setting up blackmail scenarios, threatening inventors and Their loved Ones, ruining Them (as They did Tesla), or outright killing Them.
So. We would best offer any successes in free energy freely, without patent, because in the end, We ALL will benefit enormously - except maybe the psychopaths who will no longer have Their single tool to power.
I'm a huge supporter of Free and Open Source Hardware (and Software). Free and Open Source Everything. Most intellectual property laws like patenting only stifle human stigmergy.
I stumbled upon this yesterday: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prizes_as_an_alternative_to_patents
That might work better, but... As long as We have money, any efforts to get patents or prizes for free energy tech WILL alert Them and They will swoop in and take it, one way or another - buying it out and burying it, or if no sale setting the inventor up for blackmail, threatening the inventor and loved Ones, ruining Them (as They did Tesla), or just outright killing Them.
But if the web is flooded with instructions and all... It will get out!
Free and Open Source Everything! 😄