Comments on: Nanotechnology turns heat into electricity http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=2428 examining transformative technology Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:23:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Mark lohrmann | CartoGraphix http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=2428#comment-997884 Mark lohrmann | CartoGraphix Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:17:06 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=2428#comment-997884 [...] the Foresight Institute » Nanotechnology turns heat intoInside fossil-fuel and nuclear-power plants, as well as in cars and trucks, the lion’s share of energy in fuel is wasted as heat rather … UC Berkeley nanotechnology researchers Rachel Segalman, … The researchers trapped a few molecules between a sheet of gold and the ultrafine gold tip of a scanning tunneling microscope, [...] [...] the Foresight Institute » Nanotechnology turns heat intoInside fossil-fuel and nuclear-power plants, as well as in cars and trucks, the lion’s share of energy in fuel is wasted as heat rather … UC Berkeley nanotechnology researchers Rachel Segalman, … The researchers trapped a few molecules between a sheet of gold and the ultrafine gold tip of a scanning tunneling microscope, [...]

]]> By: Mark Lohrmann http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=2428#comment-213782 Mark Lohrmann Wed, 18 Apr 2007 13:38:34 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=2428#comment-213782 The future is NOW! ... This company is already commercial with its heat to electricity microchips! http://www.eneco.com/ The future is NOW! … This company is already commercial with its heat to electricity microchips!

http://www.eneco.com/

]]> By: James Aach http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=2428#comment-140955 James Aach Fri, 23 Feb 2007 02:23:21 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=2428#comment-140955 One item of interest when discussing conversion of waste heat to electricity is that in the standard electric generation steam cycle of boiler/reactor to turbine to condenser, the prompt removal of waste heat from the condenser is a requirement of the cycle itself, and is done on a massive scale in modern power plants. Often the waste heat removal is via a continous flow path using cooling towers to prevent too much waste heat rejection to the environment. Any removal of the waste heat in this case by converting it to another power source (versus cooling towers alone, etc.) would of course be very useful, but for application on a large scale in this case it would also have to be a quick, continuous process that is highly reliable. Otherwise, it would just be a minor adjunct (perhaps sitting in the bottom of the cooling towers.) On the other hand, plants which also use large cooling ponds where the heat is dumped without overall environmental impact might provide a better application, as any additional heat removal would be a bonus whose speed wouldn't effect the primary cycle. Also, if waste heat can be converted, other electric generation methods which may be less reliant on prompt waste heat removal via a recycled coolant but are less efficient with primary energy use (such as a diesel engine, which provides hot exhaust and a lot of engine block heat even with its internal cooling system) suddenly may become more cost effective for electricity generation. Large scale, speed, and reliability would be the key factors in any work in this area. For an entertaining inside look at nuclear power, see my novel Rad Decision, free on line at http://RadDecision.blogspot.com and also in paperback. One item of interest when discussing conversion of waste heat to electricity is that in the standard electric generation steam cycle of boiler/reactor to turbine to condenser, the prompt removal of waste heat from the condenser is a requirement of the cycle itself, and is done on a massive scale in modern power plants. Often the waste heat removal is via a continous flow path using cooling towers to prevent too much waste heat rejection to the environment. Any removal of the waste heat in this case by converting it to another power source (versus cooling towers alone, etc.) would of course be very useful, but for application on a large scale in this case it would also have to be a quick, continuous process that is highly reliable. Otherwise, it would just be a minor adjunct (perhaps sitting in the bottom of the cooling towers.) On the other hand, plants which also use large cooling ponds where the heat is dumped without overall environmental impact might provide a better application, as any additional heat removal would be a bonus whose speed wouldn’t effect the primary cycle. Also, if waste heat can be converted, other electric generation methods which may be less reliant on prompt waste heat removal via a recycled coolant but are less efficient with primary energy use (such as a diesel engine, which provides hot exhaust and a lot of engine block heat even with its internal cooling system) suddenly may become more cost effective for electricity generation. Large scale, speed, and reliability would be the key factors in any work in this area.

For an entertaining inside look at nuclear power, see my novel Rad Decision, free on line at http://RadDecision.blogspot.com and also in paperback.

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