Wood stoves equipped with thermoelectric generators can produce electricity that is more sustainable, more reliable, and less costly than power from solar PV panels.
Found this on the lowtech magazine. What are your toughts?
As others have said thermoelectric generators are rather inefficient and low power. The best use case afaik is to run a fan to circulate air to improve efficiency of stove heating. Hmm or maybe water in a pipe around your chimney to a radiator. Might be too much power already though.
What might be even more interesting is if these advances could also be used for the reverse, using TEGs to cool things using electricity without moving parts and heat pumps. Still less efficient, but has it’s uses. And you have ample “waste electricity” from solar that you could theoretically use to cool liquids and store them for later as a cooling battery.
PS: Just as an idea: Maybe something like large 8’ roofing material panels that have solar panels, are insulated, but can also heat or cool the interior ceiling. Not sure, maybe it makes sense we can create organic and cheap solar film and “TEG film”. This could help with the increasing heat waves from climate change. It could be a “smart material” that does not need external power hookups.
As others have said thermoelectric generators are rather inefficient and low power. The best use case afaik is to run a fan to circulate air to improve efficiency of stove heating. Hmm or maybe water in a pipe around your chimney to a radiator. Might be too much power already though.
But on a whim I looked for breakthroughs in TEGs and found this interesting article. Probably gonna take some time to market: Japan researchers use AI to speed up thermoelectric generator design | TechRadar
What might be even more interesting is if these advances could also be used for the reverse, using TEGs to cool things using electricity without moving parts and heat pumps. Still less efficient, but has it’s uses. And you have ample “waste electricity” from solar that you could theoretically use to cool liquids and store them for later as a cooling battery.
PS: Just as an idea: Maybe something like large 8’ roofing material panels that have solar panels, are insulated, but can also heat or cool the interior ceiling. Not sure, maybe it makes sense we can create organic and cheap solar film and “TEG film”. This could help with the increasing heat waves from climate change. It could be a “smart material” that does not need external power hookups.