The 2015 Renewable Energy Prize of the Italian Energy Company ENI was awarded to Mercouri Kanatzidis, Professor of Chemistry at the Northwestern University in Evanston (Illinois, USA). An international leader in solid state chemistry, Kanatzidis was awarded for his contribution in the development of new solid state semiconductors able to recover waste heat and convert it directly into electricity. As a result of his work, a 40-year old record in heat-electricity conversion has been surpassed, laying the foundation for the implementation of veritable thermoelectric generators (devices converting heat into electrical energy). It has been estimated that the technologies that could be developed as a result could allow the recovery of at least 50GW on a global scale.
Source: Greek News Agenda