[Vo]:Valone cited thermovoltaic cells as cheap energy devices.

[Charles M. Brown]

I listened to Tom Valone on C to C too. He mentioned that 
solar cells from Kyrocea in Japan 
http://www.kyocerasolar.com/ specifically but probably not 
exclusively produced energy from ambient IR at night. I 
believe this is a cheap energy source worth pursuing 
though a feeble search of kyocerasolar did not lead to 
ambient IR conversion references. Paul Lowrance calculated 
that ambient IR blackbody radiation was ~ 400 watts / M^2. 
Thermovoltaic cells can be very thin and stacked in 
series to become powerful rugged, and of practical 
voltage. 

Aloha,
Charlie