completeconfusion

Will military applications be next? See the BBC story:

BBC NEWS
Robot glider harvests ocean heat
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

A sea-going robotic glider that harvests heat energy from the ocean has been tested by US scientists.

The yellow, torpedo-shaped machine has been combing the depths of seas around the Caribbean since December 2007.
....
It generates its energy for propulsion from the differences in temperature between warm surface waters and colder, deeper layers of the ocean.

Wax-filled tubes inside the craft expand when it is gliding through warmer water. This heat is used to push oil from a bladder inside the hull to one outside, changing its buoyancy.

Cooling of the wax at depth reverses the cycle.

Full news story at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7234544.stm

Published: 2008/02/08