Heat is constantly flowing into space from the ground beneath our feet. Might we capture some of it to generate electricity?
EARTH glows. Not in a fiery, intense visible light as the sun does. But lie down on the ground and you can feel its warmth. Take an infrared photo from orbit and you will see the heat radiation it constantly pumps out into the frigid void of space.
It is an immense flow of energy – and one that currently goes to waste. But need it? Not if a bright idea from a group of researchers at Harvard University works out. They think we can use some of this heat radiation as it passes out into space to generate electricity.
It is, on the face of it, an odd idea, using a heat flow away from us, rather ...
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