Dryer
No offence but all you have offered are "ideas" but not a working product.
Matter of fact I don't have a working product either but I do think that within six months there will be one that you can buy and use.
(if the Bio guys deliver...)
Steam engines and wind power sounds all good but where is a product that someone without knowledge,tools and a lot of time can buy ?
This sentence epitomises what I am trying to say :
"Heather, this is really old tech. You can buy thermoelectric chips and build your own. http://www.tegpower.com/pro3.htm
Add a .30 cent voltage regulator and you're done."
Either you are oversimplifying to the extreme or you are just kidding .
The reason I am saying that is if Heather me or you buy that thermoelectric chip and that 30c voltage regulator we would have again an idea not a product. Those two bits alone are not going to do anything at all.
But I do not have a horse in this race anyway, however it isn't as simple or as cheap as you say...
Franco