In hope of being more earth friendly and energy efficient, researchers have recently came to know that heat makes photons too. Previously the vast majority of photovoltaic ,or solar cells as it is commonly known, capture only photons emitted by the sun, but there many other sources of electromagnetic radiation exist. Since combustion of any kind emits photons in the infra-red (IR) portion of the spectrum, the waste heat produced by generators, combustion engines, etc offers a potential source of radiation for solar cells with the appropriate bandgap.
So effectively, we can place solar cells in close proximity to a combustion heat source and harness that energy. Well won't go into further engineering technical details.
Let's just hope they can find cheap ways of creating thermophotovoltaic devices with low-bandgap materials to exploit low energy, long wavelength IR photons which my car engine emits and the control of excess heat just in case I rev above 7500rpm.
Going for much needed vacation soon...here's my fav Dilbert comic strip for the moment.
Let's end the tough engineering work week I had with a self poking engineer joke - especially about my low pay..man we try to save the world, but we get paid peanuts, in Singapore that is and no I do not mean golden peanuts which charity organisations get over here.
At the end of a job interview, a young Engineer fresh out of NTU was asked, "And what starting salary were you looking for?"
The Engineer replied, "In the neighborhood of $100,000 a year, depending on the benefits package."
The interviewer said, "Well, what would you say to a package of 5-weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every 2 years - say, a red RX-8?"
The Engineer sat up straight and said, "Wow! Are you kidding?"
And the interviewer replied, "Yeah, but you started it.
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