Late last year, Dr. Lon Bell retired as chief technology officer of Amerigon, but the only energy he seems unable to save is his own. He has recently started as strategic and technical advisor to thermoelectrics startup Alphabet Energy.

An industry pioneer, Bell founded Amerigon in 1991, and the company developed and commercialized the world’s first thermoelectric-based cooled and heated seat.

Although this breakthrough was small in size, its benefits are large-scale, he says in this podcast interview. Air conditioning can reduce the range of electric vehicles by 30% but by controlling the temperature of the driver rather than the car, the efficiency of lithium ion batteries can be maximized, Bell claims.

Bell has a long list of inventions – air bag sensors, seat belt catches and quick-start motors that have made diesel-powered vehicles more efficient.

A Is Also For Abundant

Alphabet Energy is a promising startup because its thermal electric technology uses silicon, an abundant raw material with an established base for processing thanks to the computer industry, he explains.

Applications of its technology range from the reduction in electronics to cool jet engines, through to waste heat from power generation which is converted into electricity and from increasing the fuel efficiency of vehicles by harnessing heat from tailpipes … through to keeping beer cold in a picnic basket.

Bell starts with a handy 101 primer on thermal electrics and how waste heat can be harnessed and converted back into electricity.

For more on Alphabet Energy, read about its waste-heat technology here.

Photo Caption: Silicon wafer production line.