#OccupyTesla The Extremely Strange Solar Energy Technology Youd Be Stupid To Ignore Rather than capturing incoming visible light like a conventional solar photovoltaic panel, Capasso wants to generate direct current electric power by emitting infrared light. “It’s not at all obvious, at first . . . To generate power by emitting, not by absorbing light, that’s weird. It makes sense physically once you think about it, but it’s highly counterintuitive,” said Capasso. “We’re talking about the use of physics at the nanoscale for a completely new application.” forbes/sites/williampentland/2014/03/03/the-extremely-strange-solar-energy-technology-youd-be-stupid-to-ignore/ U.S. researchers propose Earths infrared radiation as renewable energy source Physicists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) proposed a device that would resemble a photovoltaic solar panel. But instead of capturing incoming visible light, it would generate electric power by harvesting energy from Earths infrared emissions into outer space. The energy flow from earth to outer space provides a hitherto neglected opportunity to generate a potentially enormous amount of renewable energy, the researchers reported in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The technology does not yet exist to siphon renewable energy out of this flow, but we argue that it is possible to make a device that does exactly that. energycentral/news/en/31712429/U-S-researchers-propose-Earth-s-infrared-radiation-as-renewable-energy-source Harvesting renewable energy from Earth’s mid-infrared emissions Abstract It is possible to harvest energy from Earths thermal infrared emission into outer space. We calculate the thermodynamic limit for the amount of power available, and as a case study, we plot how this limit varies daily and seasonally in a location in Oklahoma. We discuss two possible ways to make such an emissive energy harvester (EEH): A thermal EEH (analogous to solar thermal power generation) and an optoelectronic EEH (analogous to photovoltaic power generation). For the latter, we propose using an infrared-frequency rectifying antenna, and we discuss its operating principles, efficiency limits, system design considerations, and possible technological implementations. scribd/doc/210750028/PNAS-2014-Byrnes-1402036111
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 19:37:18 +0000
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