heat

Tapping the hot asphalt jungle for energy

Pavement, it turns out, is a pretty good place to look for free energy.

A handful of Massachusetts researchers on Monday published a paper detailing a technique for using water-carrying pipes to convert the built-up heat in asphalt roads into usable energy.

Released at the International Symposium on Asphalt Pavements and Environment in Zurich, Switzerland, the paper argues that asphalt roads have a number of advantages over solar-electric panels as a source of distributed energy.

"The significance of this concept lies in the fact that the massive installed base of parking lots and roadways creates a low-cost solar collector … Read more

Electrolux cooktop boils water in a flash

Electrolux's 36-inch electric hybrid induction cooktop's selling points are its speed, flexibility, and sophisticated design.

With five burners--three electric and two induction--the cooktop can boil or simmer multiple pots in a hurry, delivering between 750 watts to 3,200 watts to heat the food. The 10-inch induction element on this cooktop will boil water in just 90 seconds.

Induction cooktops generally cost more than their all-electric counterparts do, and this one costs about $1,999.

You must also use pots and pans made of magnetic material such as stainless steel or cast iron on induction burners. You can … Read more

The 404 117: Where Molly Wood won't extract properly

With Jeff back in the studio, we sit down for a lengthy chat about New Orleans, our trip to the sun, why Disney stomps all over Sublime, Walmart's own Geek Squad, iPhone gaming, and other sleazeball topics you've come to expect from the 404. EPISODE 117 Download today's podcast

'Green machine' makes power from waste heat

Thermoelectricity--the practice of drawing electricity from heat--is getting a real-life work-out.

ElectraTherm on Thursday said that it has installed a 50-kilowatt machine that uses industrial waste heat as its "fuel."

The company says that the ElectraTherm Green Machine, installed at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, will recoup its purchase cost in three to four years with electricity costing three or four cents per kilowatt-hour during that time.

The machine uses an organic Rankine cycle to heat liquids which are turned into a vapor that turns a turbine to make electricity.

The thermoelectric effect has been known since the … Read more

Waste heat: The next frontier for clean-tech companies

China is the Saudi Arabia of waste heat, according to Roger Ballentine, president of Green Strategies.

The country's power plants aren't very efficient and, unlike Denmark or Japan, China hasn't invested a lot in technologies that can capture the heat and harness it to produce electricity. That means there's a vast amount of potential energy being squandered--or waiting to be tapped by an entrepreneur or two.

China isn't alone. Over half of the electricity produced in the U.S., for instance, never actually gets used for a productive purpose. A lot of it gets converted … Read more

Bag claims to cool laptops without a fan

This may sound a little far-fetched, but anyone who's suffocated a still-hot laptop in a zip-up sleeve might be interested to hear about a bag that cools its contents without the help of a fan. That, at least, is what Thermaltake claims its "iXoft Notebook Carrying Bag" can do.

The 15-inch bag uses "unique thermal shifting chemicals to spread heat out evenly across the pad," according to Fareastgizmos, which "melt into a gel state when heated and solidify into crystal state when cooled." Yes, it could well be an attempt to capitalize on … Read more

Heated touch screen fights computer chill

If you work in icy storage warehouses or happen to do most of your computing in an igloo, you may want to know that Glacier Computer, a designer and distributor of rugged industrial computers, is out with a heated touch screen for its Everest line.

The warmth solves a challenge that arises when the computer is being transported back and forth between sub-zero environments and areas above freezing--in and out of a freezer, for example.

"This activity causes condensation and then a refreezing of that condensation, making the screen unusable by the operator," explains Dan Poisson, director of … Read more

Because pets can get depressed too

Crave has visited the effects of sunlight on human behavior more than we care to remember, but it's all for a good cause. If a few colored lights can stave off violence in the workplace (namely ours), than we're all for it. One thing we'd never anticipated, however, is a product that can have similar results on non-human beings.

The "Fauna Sauna" (we're not making this up) uses solar-like radiant heat, sans ultra-violet rays, "to bring healing to your pet right in your home," according to InventorSpot. It's even available in … Read more

Clothing, optional

The Richmond Saunas in rural Richmond Corners, Maine -- about 40 minutes up Route 295 from Portland -- are heated by wood. In the corner of each sauna, private and communal, stands a wood burning stove and a cauldron of water which is used to douse the cairn of rocks sitting atop the stove.

In Colorado, and elsewhere in the West, lovers of steam and heat use vast geothermal hot springs to calm nerves, soothe aching muscles and sweat. From Idaho Hot Springs, Steamboat, Ouray, Granite, Bozeman to Thermopolis...from New Mexico to Montana, I've soaked in many.

In … Read more