In a first, scientists generate power from the coldness of universe - Sensationalist Headlines

https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5089783 https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/novel-device-generates-electricity-from-coldness-of-universe-119050700645_1.html FYI not alot of power but it'll improve

If this ever works, energizing our tech just from sheer emptiness would solve a shitton of problems. This is really cool.

3.99 W/m^2 as a theoretical maximum is nothing. If anything it's an emergency power source for extremely low power devices on spacecraft, so there's that.

Bear in mind, this is talking about extracting power from something becoming cold-er, not from the fact that it is cold. The diode in these experiments was kept at an ambient temperature, and the energy continually radiating from it into the night sky was reported to be generating an electric current. Not to dismiss the experiment as it does sound like a useful discovery, if it can be repeated and improved. I'd be curious how effective heating the diode through near-surface geothermal energy would be, and if it would be any more efficient than just processing the geothermal energy in some other manner.

Is this kinda like a stirling engine?

So the other side of my bed is now the world's greatest power source. Sweet.

I'm sorry but that did make me smile… Don't fuss about it, you'll find someone for sure man. Kinda wished to finish that second bit with a sciencey joke on how you'll get someone to generate power with you but, you know… Not really the most informed :|

Assumed this would be about harvesting vacuum energy but this is probably more feasible lol

Not really nothing, the thing about space is that there's plenty of well, space, to build. Your cell phone charges between .5 to 1.5 amps (lets assume 1A because that's easier and in the middle), which at a constant of 5V means that you can figure out a phone charger on this generation with the assumption that you need 5W to charge a phone. This means that even at 2.5W/m^2 you'd need only 2 m^2 to charge a phone, which isn't a whole lot honestly. Your cell phone has a dick load more processing power than the combined processing power of every system involved in the Apollo missions if you need an abstraction to make a comparison here. This isn't nothing, it's not a lot but for getting energy out of literally "nothing" it's pretty damn significant. It's enough that these could feasibly be emergency power sources, or if produced on a scale big enough it could even be a source of power during the trip between star systems where the light from stars is nowhere near bright enough for solar panels.

Its a start, tech will improve with time.

Thats not what they can currently generate, though, it's the mathematically derived maximum that any of these devices could yield. Even if we create an 100% efficient device it will only generate 3.99 W/m^2.

So this is how Monsters Inc began.

May not be so bad, these LEDs http://www.ledstriproom.com/vollong-3w-rgb-high-power-led-10pcs-p-228.html produce 43 candela, vs a 60W incandescent which produces about 70cd. Those LEDs need 3W, so an energy harvester would need ~75% efficiency. Once we get that, 2m^2 would light a room without energy.