X-Message-Number: 20675
From: 
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 09:21:19 EST
Subject: thermopiles

--part1_bb.2b5992bc.2b35d2df_boundary
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

In some important ways, the best long range solution to the energy problem is 
to use thermopiles--stacks of thermocouples, so to speak, operating in 
reverse (Peltier effect, opposite of the Thomson effect), using temperature 
differences to produce electrical energy. More than 40 years ago I envisioned 
using thermopiles for cryonics organizations to generate their own energy and 
thus a higher degree of independence.

The beauty of it is that there are no moving parts, very low maintenance, no 
pollution, and the "raw material" is everywhere, although not everywhere 
equally. For example, everywhere on earth there is (either always or 
periodically) a temperature differential at different depths, or between the 
surface and subsurface. (If the warm end is at the earth's surface, sunshine 
will contribute to it.) 

The problem, of course, is capital cost, but I have the impression that 
progress is being made in using semiconductors instead of traditional bimetal 
junctures, yielding a larger voltage for a given temperature difference. In 
fact--although I don't have the reference handy--I think that commercial 
firms may be near marketing a thermopile refrigerator (which would be the 
reverse of a thermopile generator). 

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
www.cryonics.org

--part1_bb.2b5992bc.2b35d2df_boundary

 Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"

[ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] 

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20675