Silogo net

We all know that a hot bath can do so much more than inspire deep thought, a British scientist has used a bath to power a television set. He built a system that is able to generate 100 watts using the temperature difference between a cold water supply and a bath full of used hot water. He says his system is able to be applied on a commercial or industrial scale to produce large amounts of electricity at a very low cost. All that the system needs to work is a large temperature difference such as a hot bath at about 55C and a cold water supply roughly 50 degrees colder. From that, it is possible to generate 100 watts in a lab setup, a colour TV needs only 80 watts. The industrial potential of this system is potentially huge, with the possibility of saving millions of pounds by using hot water that is discharged from the glass, steel, ceramics and electricity generating industries. The steel industry in particular produces large amounts of waste water with a temperature of 90C, this is too low to power a steam turbine which requires a temperature of 140C – therefore the water is often simply just thrown away. Water is a perfect material for thermocouple systems because it absorbs large amounts of energy. The great benefit of this energy source, the hot water, is that it is effectively free. A system has been devised that can generate 2 watts for only $5. The system can also benefit the environment if it is taken up by industries which currently discharge waste into rivers: high outflow temperatures of this water has been blamed for affecting the life cycles of river fish and animals.