The link below chronicles a frustrated physics student trying to study the properties of germanium.  I think many of us can sympathize with his colorful conclusions.

Electron Band Structure In Germanium, My Ass

From Nature Materials, February 2009, Volume 8 No 2

Commentary

An inconvenient truth about thermoelectrics - pp83 - 85

Cronin B. Vining

doi:10.1038/nmat2361

December 3, 2008 a US Department of Energy press release announced funding for thermoelectric HVAC development targeting vehicles.  Conventional air conditioning refrigerants, like R-134a, are seriously bad greenhouse gases.  Today R-134a is not yet a major contributor to global warming, but only because it hasn't been in use very long.  The refrigerant it replaced, R-12, represents a significant contribution to global warming and will continue to do for many years.  If rational minds prevail, R-134a will

Happy Solstice To All, and To All A Good New Year!

ICT2009 & ECT2009, Freiburg, Germany: Call For Abstracts

Dear Colleagues,  Thermoelectricians,

It is still 2008, but the International and European Conference on Thermoelectric 2009 is only about half a year ahead.

I commented a few months back on "The Thermionic Revolution", a proposal/invention by Philip Hardcastle for a kind of rotating device wherein the rotation enhances the efficiency of the emission process.  Mr. Hardcastle was not happy with my skeptical comments and I promised him I would post a link to his updated website.

Well, today his website is offline.  This, at least, I do understand:  keeping a website online and running properly can be tricky sometimes.

The 27^th International Conference on Thermoelectrics, ICT2008, drew over 340 thermoelectric specialists from about 27 countries to Corvallis, Oregon USA Aug. 3-7, 2008.  The conference was held on the beautiful Oregon State University campus in Corvallis.

Now here is something you don't see every day.  A thermoelectric device every cat should have.  I'll let the citation and abstract speak for themselves:

Former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore has called for America to abandon all fossil fuels for the production of electricity within 10 years.  He envisions a combination of solar, wind and geothermal renewable energy sources to produce all electricity in the US.