Can heat be used to create electricity directly like solar power or do you always need to use the heat to move something like water to propell a turbine?
by 
Fieldandstream30s
ANSWERS: 3
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Yes it can. It's a process similar to how solar cells work. The "cells", in this case, convert the infrared energy (heat) to electricity. There have been some huge breakthroughs in this technology in the past few years which would make the direct conversion of the thermal output of a nuclear reactor to electricity using designs which require no coolant and far fewer moving parts than current reactor designs. The problem has been getting the efficiencies up high enough to make it practical. Solar cells, years ago, were only 2-3% efficient. This has steadily improved and currently they can be as high as 40+% (according to web search). Last I knew, efficiencies for direct thermal conversion was possible up to 30% or more. Greater than 20% would make it feasable to build a nuclear reactor for direct conversion.
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Yes and you can go the other way with cold or lack of heat!
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I know that if you heat a wire it will create a current although I think it would be a low voltage. Depends on the size of the project, I suppose.
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