Turning Waste Heat Into Power

[Tank]

Turning Waste Heat Into Power

ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2010) â€" What do a car engine, a power plant, a factory and a solar panel have in common? They all generate heat -- a lot of which is wasted.

University of Arizona physicists have discovered a new way of harvesting waste heat and turning it into electrical power.

Using a theoretical model of a so-called molecular thermoelectric device, the technology holds great promise for making cars, power plants, factories and solar panels more efficient, to name a few possible applications. In addition, more efficient thermoelectric materials would make ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, obsolete.

The research group led by Charles Stafford, associate professor of physics, published its findings in the September issue of the scientific journal, ACS Nano...

If this gets into general use it could save massive amounts of primary energy use.

[Dretlin]

For some reason I put the word " Human" after "turning" and before "waste" when I read the title. Glad to see I am wrong!

[The Magic Pudding]

For some reason I put the word " Human" after "turning" and before "waste" when I read the title. Glad to see I am wrong!

Why glad?
http://www.small-farm-permaculture-and- ... rator.html

You can make biogas energy with a DIY methane generator.
Producing methane from manure using your own small scale waste to energy biogas digester is feasible for many small farms.

If you want to do your bit for clean energy, but don't want to do all the work,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010 ... ewable-gas

Next time you flush the toilet, you could be doing your bit for green energy. After being stored for 18 days, human waste will from today be returning to homes in the form of renewable gas.

Centrica is opening a plant at Didcot sewage works which will be the first in the UK to produce renewable gas for households to use.