December 3, 2008 a US Department of Energy press release announced funding for thermoelectric HVAC development targeting vehicles.  Conventional air conditioning refrigerants, like R-134a, are seriously bad greenhouse gases.  Today R-134a is not yet a major contributor to global warming, but only because it hasn't been in use very long.  The refrigerant it replaced, R-12, represents a significant contribution to global warming and will continue to do for many years.  If rational minds prevail, R-134a will

Better late than never.   A DoE funding solicitation (applications closed on 20080422) expects to invest US$7.5M through FY2011 in "Solid State Energy Conversion for Vehicular Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and for Waste Heat Recovery". 

From the NanoFreeze.com website, the Lund, Sweden based company founded in 2005 "develops a thermoelectric coolchip having a high efficiency, 10-15 times higher than so called Peltier-elements working on the same basic principle."   Their website assures us they are using nanotechnology, that they have raised some 7.4 MSEK (US$1.15) venture capital and plan to have their first product in 2010.

Nanocoolers , the Austin,Texas thermoelectric startup (2002) company with 15 employees founded by form IBM researcher Uttam Ghoshal has closed shop after burning through about US$19M of venture captial and about $3M of Texas state funding as reported by the Austin Statesman.   Krishna Srinivasan of Austin Ventures is quoted as saying "we couldn't get it up to the performance level that made it

Semiconductor Today reported December 26, 2007:

"High-purity metals and alloy producer 5N Plus Inc of Montreal, Québec, Canada has completed its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange at a price of $3.00 per share, yielding proceeds of $34.5m. In addition, in a parallel secondary offering, minority shareholder II-VI Inc of Saxonburg, PA, USA has sold its stake in 5N Plus for gross proceeds of $32m."

5N Plus has been known to provide both raw elements and thermoelectric grade bismuth telluride alloys.  II-VI Inc. is the parent company of Marlow Industries, a major thermoelectric cooling manufacturer.  Company info indicates they provide products for the "rapidly expanding" solar market, and a number of other electronic applications.

Since their IPO at $3/share on Dec. 20, 2007 the share price has reached $9.45 and is closed yesterday (Jan. 9, 2007) at $6.35.

ENECO, the Salt Lake City based R&D company developing what they describe as a "Thermal Diode" for energy conversion and which once held patent rights to the Pons & Fleischmann cold fusion 'discovery', has reportedly (Green Buisness News) landed US$20M from Proterra Energy in a new partnership valued at US$2B (that's 10⁹) over the next seven years.  ENECO gets a 10% cut.

Post-doc position on Thermoelectric oxides

Subject : Synthesis and Characterization of new thermoelectric oxides

In the laboratory CRISMAT, an intense research program is dedicated to the investigation of the thermoelectric properties of different families of oxides. We are currently looking for one post-doctoral fellow, for one year. The applicant will be in charge of the synthesis of these oxides by standard solid state chemistry, their structural characterization by X-Ray diffraction, and the measurements of their transport properties (resistivity, thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient). This work is closely connected to an industrial contract.

Applicant profile :
The candidate should be an expert in solid state chemistry, ceramic growth by standard solid state reaction, and characterization by X-Ray diffraction. A good experience with transport measurements is desirable.

Application form :
The candidates should send their CV to Prof. Bernard Raveau (bernard [dot] raveauensicaen [dot] fr). The position is already open and the applicant should start as soon as possible.

Bernard Raveau
Laboratoire CRISMAT
CNRS UMR6508 et ENSICAEN
6 Bd du Maréchal Juin
14050 Caen Cedex
France
http://www-crismat.ensicaen.fr/index.php

Clemson, South Carolina, 20040929 (from Dr. Terry Tritt):

Department of Energy awards $3 Million to Clemson
Research focused on “The Next Generation Solid State Power Conversion Materials"

Clemson University, under the guidance of professor Terry M. Tritt in the department of physics and astronomy (P&A), has just received a major grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to establish a Center of Excellence in Thermoelectric Materials Research. The first phase of the grant (2004-2007) will total almost $3M: $1.32M from DOE and $1.67M from the South Carolina EPSCoR/IDeA Program and Clemson University. The second phase of the grant (2007-2010) is expected to be of similar magnitude. The magnitude of the funds involved in this program will enable Clemson to build a nationally recognized research center focused on the next generation thermoelectric (TE) materials for power conversion and/or refrigeration technologies.

more...

March 7, 2004 - The Department of Energy (DOE), National Energy
Technology Laboratory (NETL), on behalf of the Office of Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) Office of FreedomCAR and
Vehicle Technologies (OFCVT), is seeking applications for cost-shared
R&D to improve the overall efficiency of automobiles and trucks by using
high efficiency direct energy conversion devices that will utilize waste
heat from the engine.

Ninesigma announced on Feb. 25, 2004 a call for proposals to demonstrate nano-particle manufacturing techniques suitable industrial quantities of bulk thermoelectric materials. According to their website (with all the details, including the full RFP and Abstract template)

http://www.ninesigma.com/mx/30337-07-10a/rfp.html

Abstracts are due March 26, 2004.

Ninesigma is representing Delphi Corporation and believes a ZT=2 PbTe-based material could provide TE cooling systems competitive with current vehicle air conditioners. They anticipate "annual volume could reach 1000 tons/year over the next 10 years.".