Howdy Folks!

We got some pretty smart folks here at the UT forums many of whom are scientifically inclined so maybe someone can give me an idea here or point me in the right direction.

I've had an idea for building small water powered generators. With large hydro-power dams, we've created problems with rivers etc., but what I was thinking here was something along the lines of smaller generators, strung in series along small creak beds, streams and smaller rivers. Not to give too much of my idea away so that no one comes along and patents it and makes a fortune on it (please scuse the mild paranoia here), but basically the idea I'm thinking of would have minimal impact on wildlife and the surounding ecosystem and could at the very least be used as an alternative power source to compliment current sources of electricity.

Now my question is, how would a person with such an idea go about pursuing or trying to implement this idea (with little or no cash of his or her own to work with)? If my house was very near to a stream, I could at the very least try this idea out with my own houses electrical and see how much power it would generate, but how would a person go about trying to "sell" this idea if you will...or at the very least see if it's something that would be worthwhile? I'm not an engineer or a scientist or anything, but I do have some knowledge and experience working with electricity and a pretty good understanding of generators and such and I think if it were done correctly, this could be a very viable alternative source of energy.

I'm grateful for any and all input here...thanks!
Bright Blessings & Gentle Breezes,
Jim

Jim,

I have heard of a device called a ram pump, that takes some of the energy from a drop in height of a stream to pump water back uphill. Then there would be the technique of actually using the force of the passing water to turn a turbine or a generator, which is what I guess you'e referring to.

As far as some way to market and sell that...most everything I have seen, from wind to solar energy, is pricey, and takes a while to payback for the user/customer. It could be good for those who happen to be close to the right flow of water, but that would be a specialized market, and you might have to search a database that can match up houses and hydrologic information to refine your marketing.

But, the one thing I have learned over the years is that it's easier and cheaper to reduce the amount of power consumption for a house than it is to generate power for a standard, relatively inefficient house.

So, if you could combine the service of upgrading the thermal efficiency of the house and the appliances it uses, along with the pitch of the hydro-generating device, you might have an easier sell at a lower overall cost for the potential customer. And you'd be able to demonstrate a faster payback time on the retrofit/installation. And, that might help sell the customer as well.

Good Luck with your own installation! At the very least, you will have more energy for yourself, and gain a lot of valuable firsthand experience, and that will help with the pitch too. B)

PS- Do all you can to minimize cavitation! Cavitation can really suck amps from the system.

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Quote:
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What is cavitation?

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Somehow I don't think this would work. Even at 100% efficiency, you ain't going to get any more energy produced that way. At anything less than 100% efficiency (which would definitely be the case with an electric pump...i.e. energy lost as magnetic field/heat etc.), you'd be losing energy.

I agree with Tom however; increasing the efficiency of houses (and commercial use) is the best way to knock off a large percentage of greenhouse gas production quickly. It would also save people money, rather than cost money.

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Climate Change Australia

Kashi, On the part about the ram pump-I was just overviewing the options, and a ram pump is only used to send "some" of the water stream back uphill, it's a very small percentage, and it's only used to supply water for the house. I wasn't intending that it be used to make another waterfall or anything. I was just pointing it out in case Jim had heard of the device and didn't know what it was for.

And Tinaa, re-Cavitation occurs when the pressure changes created on the propeller/screw turning in the water bring air bubbles out of solution. The prop has a harder time "getting a grip" on the water, and since the air bubbles are less dense than water, they actually cushion the force of the prop against the water. Big inefficiencies are created, and loss of force from the prop occurs when turning the prop for propulsion.

Also, when extracting energy from moving water, the reverse occurs, and energy is lost in the transfer from moving water to the prop. Variables affecting cavitation include: curvature of the prop, the number of blades, prop speed, water temperature and salinity, and percentage of dissolved gasses.

Neat little reference to this in the book/film- "The Hunt for Red October".

__________________
Pre-Quote: 'To survive one has to experiment. When the environment changes, the traditional way of doing things doesn't work.'

Quote:
"It's the outriders, the organisms that seem to be maladjusted before the change, which are the only ones that survive these changes...in that way a species continues."

Carl Sagan