[nudephil (OP)]

Jack sent us this:

I live on several acres of heavily wooded land. I'm interested in converting heat from burning wood into electricity. Would the Seebeck Effect, used optimally, generate sufficient electrical current that I could use it to power appliances in my home?

Would it?

[alancalverd]

Yes, in principle, as long as you have a decent heat sink. The problem is, however, that metallic thermocouples can produce a lot of current but only at a few millivolts. You can stack semiconductors to produce a useful voltage that  can drive an inverter and thus power domestic appliances, but they are limited to small temperature differentials - say 100 deg max. Some time ago I had an idea for a mechanical inverter based on a rotating copper/iron junction generating hundreds of amps - it's used as a magnetic switch to close off a gas supply if the pilot light is extinguished - but I never got round to building it.