-- Note that lighter elements will be easier to separate from the decay product and thus incur less maintenance/recycling overhead. Let's put the upper weight to 250 g. The greater the energy and longer half-life, the better (infrastructure related). Sr-90 (manmade): Specific power in W/g at t=0: 0.447073 Specific power in W/g at t=28.79 y: 0.223537 May pose some infrastructure problems due to its relatively short half-life. Still, 100g of this emits 447 W, decreasing to 224 W after 28.79 years, which should be both long and sufficient enough for great amounts of lighting. Ra-226 (natural): Specific power in W/g at t=0: 0.0285473 Specific power in W/g at t=1600 y: 0.0142737 This is on the other end of the scale. 1 kg gives us 28 W, but it'll last practically forever. It's also likely quite easy to get one's paws on. (TODO: Find how often it dumps 14C with a decay energy of 28.199 MeV. 3E-9. 4.871*(1-(3E-9)) + 28.199*(3E-9) = 4.87100007 - negligible) Am-241 (manmade): Specific power in W/g at t=0: 0.114695 Specific power in W/g at t=432.2 y: 0.0573476 (1 kg gives us 114 W, 57 W after 432 years) Americium-241 seems to be a good compromise, at least for lighting purposes. Assuming a 20 W light output that is to last 100 years, and assuming the lamp holds, with 10 years for infrastructure safe margins, W/g at t=110 y : 0.114695 * 2^(-110/432.2) = 0.09615 20/0.09615 = 208 The battery should be of mass 208 grams. At the very start, it'll dump 23.8W . Our max specified weight 250 grams gives 27 W at the start, 24 W after 110 years, and 14.3 W after half-life.) Ar-39 (manmade): Specific power in W/g at t=0: 0.114249 Specific power in W/g at t=269 y: 0.0571247 Specific power in W/g at t=110 y: 0.086051 This is very light compared to the other elements (but for all I know, quite expensive as well). To power the lamp example above, 233 grams is required. Th-229: Specific power in W/g at t=0: 0.00651562 Specific power in W/g at t=7340 y: 0.00325781 Specific power in W/g at t=110 y: 0.00644828 10 kg gives us 64 W, and it lasts a long time. ({H-3, Si-32, Ra-226} - {ten-year, hundred-year, millennial} ?) And just for fun: K-40 (natural): (Decay energy avg = 1.3318 MeV) Specific power in W/g at t=0: 5.531e-08 Specific power in W/g at t=1.277e+09 y: 2.7655e-08 0.006 W/metric ton, in other words. Forget it. C-14 (natural): Specific power in W/g at t=0: 0.00412065 Specific power in W/g at t=5730 y: 0.00206033 4W/kg. Nah.