Comments on: Generating Power on Earth From the Coldness of Deep Space

By: Southerner

Southerner — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 07:15:19 +0000

Felix, Peter, regarding temperature differential, perhaps there are living organisms that exploit temperature differential to create electrical energy, and that use radio waves. IRO the latter it would be extremely surprising if there were not. Naturally the entire sensory nervous system converts a sensation into an electrical signal, but I think we’re talking metabolic electrical energy here? A fascinating question.

By: Felix

Felix — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 22:07:00 +0000

Peter: “If this was truly a promising technology there would already be living organisms that evolved to exploit the phenomenon.”

Radio?

But that is an interesting question: What useful things have humans invented/found that evolution otherwise has not?

Lasers? Which for the first 20-30 years were the hopeless “product in search of a market”.

By: Jim

Jim — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 21:54:21 +0000

Peter: “If this was truly a promising technology there would already be living organisms that evolved to exploit the phenomenon.”

Natural selection is much like “the free market” in that sometimes it works but mostly it’s a blind idiot god at best.

By: Gaikokumaniakku

Gaikokumaniakku — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 02:00:59 +0000

I am not a physical engineer, but I read some of their journals. Thus I cannot claim any personal experience with operating cost-effective thermoelectric generators. However, from my reading, I note:

>…the article discusses recent thermoelectric material advancements. It also compares thermoelectric generator and photovoltaic efficiency and cost. Results reveal that wearable thermoelectric generators have lower power density (This has been tried so many times, so many ways. It always ends with the two sides of the thermocouple reaching temperature equilibrium and producing no power.

I wonder whether McChuck is arguing mostly from academic reading, informal hearsay, professional experience, personal experience, or some other source of experience.

By: Peter

Peter — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 19:51:19 +0000

If this was truly a promising technology there would already be living organisms that evolved to exploit the phenomenon.

By: McChuck

McChuck — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 16:01:48 +0000

This has been tried so many times, so many ways. It always ends with the two sides of the thermocouple reaching temperature equilibrium and producing no power.

By: Gaikokumaniakku

Gaikokumaniakku — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 13:06:08 +0000

These technologies are promising not just as energy sources, but as good ways to dump excess heat from buildings in humid tropical environments. One study promised five degrees of cooling even for a building in a humid jungle at 29 degrees Celsius.

https://opg.optica.org/oe/fulltext.cfm?uri=oe-27-22-31587&id=422391