Opportunities for thermoelectric generators in supporting a low carbon economy

Environmental pollution, global warming and increasing energy demands are urgent challenges facing society. Governments all over the world have set a national policy target for the transition to a zero or low carbon dioxide economy. As a result, scientists and engineers in industry and academia are working to develop cleaner, alternative and sustainable energy production technologies. One technology that has potential in this green technology transition is thermoelectric generators (TEGs), traditionally used off-grid and isolated from things such as stand-alone solar–thermal cells for military and aerospace applications such as missile-testing systems and space telescope cameras. However, future applications based on home entertainment, security systems and smart metering applications are imminent. Key limitations to this are low efficiency, high costs and self-heating with low thermal conductivity. Hence, this study aims to examine the current state of the art of TEGs and identify future research directions to achieve support for the green technology transition. The key findings of this study show that present successes will fulfill the future advancement of thermoelectric technology by supporting a low carbon dioxide economy.