exhalations

When I proposed that the powerlines adjacent to the local rail-trail, the W&OD Trail, be buried underground, I was told that the lines generate tremendous heat that is dissipated in the air. Underground the lines would need to be surrounded by a liquid that would carry way this heat. Like other wasted heat, I wondered if there was a way to convert it into useable energy. This New York Times article on generating electricity from wasted heat explains that it may be more feasible to do so in the future:

"It is impossible to transform 100 percent of the heat into electricity. The laws of physics dictate a theoretical maximum of about 50 percent at the temperature a thermoelectric device operates at. Current commercial thermoelectric devices, at 10 percent efficiency, get only one-fifth the maximum. Using the new technology, future devices should be able to achieve more than half the maximum."

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:22 AM #

Currently Reading

Recently Read

Music

Artists