Reply To: p-Li7 fusion

[texaslabrat]

Phil’s Dad wrote: In my instinctive desire to please all the people all the time I have been thinking about how to deal with the “waste” heat in a way that would satisfy both Brian H and Aeronaut.

Then I remembered that University of Utah physicist Orest Symko demonstrated a couple of years ago how to convert heat via sound into electricity. Symko foresaw using the devices to generate electricity from heat that is currently released from nuclear power plant cooling towers.

It’s only an example of the principle; which is to convert the heat directly into electricity rather than resorting to a steam engine. Can’t hurt the energy I/O balance. What other methods are out there to convert heat into electricity in one or two inexpensive steps?

Stirling engines are another method. Organic Rankine cycle turbines are another for instances when the temperature of the waste heat isn’t high enough to make good-quality dry steam suitable for a traditional Rankine steam turbine. Thermoelectric technology is constantly improving, and might be a contender for low/zero maintenance electrical generation from waste heat in a few years.

However with all that said, in many regions the use of the heat directly in industrial applications as well as residential (space heating, hot water for showering/cleaning, etc) is probably just as valuable as trying to make electricity out of it.