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however if you had looked at the link to the prototypes you would have seen that many prototypes

I did.
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No it does not , not for more than a few minutes.

Yeah, actually, it can. It helps to cool the heat sink side (wind, ambient air, water, ice)to get full efficiency but with any temp differential, it will still generate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhynSkFlJOs&feature=related

Scroll down, look at the pot of water with 4 chips:
http://www.tegpower.com/index.html
No cooling.
Like I said, I've done this, and have a chip or two around here somewhere. The Biolite guys are neatly packaging it and I applaud their work. For me, and many DIY'ers, it's not hard or expensive to do, and it's not fair to discourage others to try. Let's move on.
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paul, texas KD5IVP