Just because it doesn't cost any money doesn't mean it won't cost resources, what's good about these ideas is that they are decentralised and don't rely on an infrastructure to operate.
The OP title is really bad. Nitinol is not new it is from the 80's or even before and it is not free energy it is a waste heat recovery system. Maybe more like "Nitinol: waste heat recovery system"
With the advent of ASIC's this is not going to be anything of special interest to bitcoin miners but it could be used like two other technologies (peltier & stirling engines) to get some electricity back from the waste heat of mining.