There is a great article by Scott Dodd of OnEarth. His article Heat + New Gizmo = Power lays out what is being done to try to harness the heat created from corporate resources such as data centers and turning the heat back into electricity.
"In 1882 Thomas Edison built the nation's first power plant in Lower Manhattan, selling electricity to New York City's rich and powerful. Edison himself flipped the first light switch in the Wall Street offices of J. P. Morgan. But Pearl Street station, equipped with six 27-ton dynamos, also produced tremendous amounts of heat. Edison, always the problem solver, used that heat to make steam, which he then sold to nearby businesses, where it was used to power factories and warm buildings during the winter."
Green Tech may not just about conservation anymore. He discusses a chip that is in design that will convert heat into electricity...
"The concept is simple: a device made of a semiconducting material is sandwiched between two strong conductors. When one side gets hot, electrons begin to flow toward the cooler side. The semiconductor channels them into a wire, creating a flow of electricity that can be directed back into the original gadget, engine, or other heat-generating device, acting as an additional power source."
Read the full story here.
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