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A new device that can efficiently and cheaply turn waste heat into electricity is now on sale for all those big energy companies working in ultra remote locations.
Nifty new materials are being used to capture waste heat and turn it into electricity. That could make both your gadgets and your cars, but also high-powered industry more energy efficient.
Cheap semiconductors — that are lower tech than solar cells — could be the key to converting heat into useable energy at power plants, in appliances and even in vehicles.
I’m all for a revolution in energy and cars, but it can happen faster if we understand the dynamics of how these sectors work.
Startup Alphabet Energy, which makes materials out of silicon that convert heat into electricity, has raised a $16 million series B round led by Canadian natural gas company Encana.
The days of startups building custom-made, capital-intensive machines to produce next-gen energy products is over. Today’s energy entrepreneurs are using standard machines from sectors like the chip industry, the lithium ion battery industry and printing.
A quiet early stage startup called Silicium Energy recently got the equivalent of golden ticket: a seed investment from greentech investor Vinod Khosla. According to a filing, the company raised just $1.65 million, with backing from Khosla.
Thermoelectric materials hold the promise of turning waste heat into electricity, but they haven’t been widely used because of high costs. Startup Alphabet Energy says it’s solving those problems by using common silicon and has lined up $12 million to finalize its first product.
Thermoelectric startup Phononic Devices has landed a $10 million investment to work on its technology to convert heat into electricity, or vice versa. There’s a big market for thermoelectrics that are cheap and reliable enough.
Startup Alphabet Energy, which is developing materials and devices that convert waste heat into usable electricity, told me this week that by 2012 they will deliver products to customers and throughout 2011 will be moving from the lab into the factory.
Here’s an interesting take on green data centers: servers that use thermoelectrics to turn their own waste heat into power. Applied Methodologies Inc. has been working on the concept since 2007.
