this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2026
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[–] dddontshoot@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

The system takes advantage of the heat difference between Earth's surface and the night sky, with the ground radiating much of the heat it captured during the previous day.

It's not a reverse solar panel. It's not a solar anything. It requires a difference in heat... So it generates electricity in the same situation that a sterling engine uses to generate motion. Could you put one on a diesel generator to turn the waste heat into more electricity?

Does it have anything in common with ~~those weird little solid state heat exchangers~~ Peltier elements? Wait, are they actually, literally peltier elements?

[–] yesman@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It’s not a reverse solar panel. It’s not a solar anything. It requires a difference in heat…

The solar part is because the Sun is responsible for the heat differential.

[–] Rubanski@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 1 week ago

Then you could argue wind energy is just solar energy because wind exists due to heat and thus pressure differential

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

So its a giant sterling engine?

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