The nasty hot exhaust air that escapes from (my mouth) a car's tailpipe may now improve gas mileage. Researchers are close to meeting a challenge set out by the U.S. Department of Energy to improve fuel economy by converting hot car exhaust into energy to power the vehicle. General Motors and a supplier for BMW AG working with Ohio State University say they are close to meeting the DOE’s goal. Their research into thermoelectrics, creating electricity via temperature differences, may be on the verge of paying off with up to a 10% increase is efficiency. Cost effective thermoelectric generators should be on the verge of production in about three years the article predicts and can works for years as they are not susceptible to wear. One of these hooked up to my mouth could power our office and one up my butt could power a small city! Gonna have to patent the underwear model.More at Physorg
