> get enough for a thermal pile however :)

I've just looked in my "Boys Book Of Proper Names For
Things" and would like to amend my suggestion to
"thermopile". There's an example of a marine battery
using Strontium 90 called a thermopile, but I meant a
device using the Seebeck effect of hot/cold junctions.
There's an interesting example of a power source for a
domestic radio from Russia in the 1930's. It consists
of a zig-zag of thermocouple junctions in series arranged
in a ring around an oil lamp. Half are in the flame, half are
not

Could one could find a sufficient differential (outside
of a geothermal or volcanic field) in the NZ bush to
supply a few volts at uA ? Perhaps a parabolic reflector
to concentrate sun light/sun heat for the hot junctions and
free air for the cold ones ?

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