Creating Power From Wasted Heat 186
Roland Piquepaille writes "Today, about 90 percent of the world's electricity is created through an indirect and inefficient conversion of heat. It is estimated that two thirds of the heat used by thermoelectric converters are wasted and released. But now, researchers from the University of California at Berkeley have found a new way to convert this wasted heat into electricity by trapping organic molecules between metal nanoparticles. So far, this method of creating electricity creation is in its very early stage, but if it can scale up to mass production it may lead to a new and inexpensive source of energy."
New source of power ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Um (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:New source of power ? (Score:4, Insightful)
generation vs consumption (Score:3, Insightful)
who cares if we figure out, say, how to meet 10% of our energy needs with new tech when our consumption rises 10% (or more).
a lot of "new energy" isn't really energy. as others have pointed out, hydrogen, is really just a way to transport energy.
it occurred to me recently, that, collectively, humans are like any other organism. we cannot control ourselves from the inside (something to do with goedels theorem maybe), and thus we will overrun the planet until we choke on ourselves -- or run out of energy. so i don't worry about it too much.
oh. whoops. depressing cold day here in st louis today.
mr c
Re:Um (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:New source of power ? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Awesome! (Score:1, Insightful)
Note the use of quotes, indicating a ficticious topic.
I wouldn't worry about the computers.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:generation vs consumption (Score:5, Insightful)
1. No more incandescent bulbs.
2. Live 10 minutes away from work in a condo/apartment instead of the suburbs in a giant house
3. Stop leaving your computer on all day
Actually, #2 is about the only one that really saves the most money. Smaller places cost less to heat/cool, and not driving as much saves a huge amount of energy.
But, oh environmentalists are more concerned about prohibiting housing developments or zoning that actually makes sense.
The market didn't do a thing to help stop... (Score:3, Insightful)
Ya, maybe if we had waited say a few hundred years it might have "corrected", as the remaining few non mutants rose up finally and bumped off the remaining few mass polluters who were left, but for some reason society decided to step in with some stricter laws before it got that bad.
I could name numerous other examples but that is an easily seen one.
Sometimes you just can't wait for the "this quarter's profits" mentality boys to do the right thing. Some things might need to be addressed now, once they are clearly understood to either be a problem now or soon will be, as opposed to waiting around for a long time in an economic and social experiment to see what might happen. And believe it or nuts, there are more important things on this Earth than some corporation's bank balance.
That is not to say that government can't be hugely overbearing and infested with generic mass stoopidity itself,of course it is,I speak out about government abuses all the time, but "the market" is no better really, neither extreme -leave it all to the market (caveat-emptor brand corporatism would be the extreme there) or all to the government(cult of the personality one leader-one party-mass bureaucracy and no one even wants to work any longer except under the whip"- ism government would be the extreme that other way)- is the end all or be all of "solutions". I think what we have more or less constructed- at least semi-regulated markets and at least an attempt at a semi-regulated society via this government thing-is probably the best humans can do at our (barely out of the medieval level intellectually or psychologically) evolutionary stage.
Of the two extremes and the middle, the middle is what we mostly have and falls under the lesser of the three big evils choices. It is imperfect, absolutely no doubt there, but the best we can do right now. What we can do is to keep chipping away at the imperfections on a case by case basis.
Re:The point of the robot... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, they insulate their houses to save on energy bills just 'cause.
Re:New source of power ? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not a big deal (Score:2, Insightful)
One question though. Isn't a gas turbine just another heat engine that that is governmed by the limits of any thermodynamic cycle? So would a "combined cycle" be two heat engines connected to each other? Unfortuantely my understanding of thermo is limited to one undergraduate class.
Re:The point of the robot... (Score:2, Insightful)