Inventer Cracks Centuries-old Puzzle (ultra low-head micro-hydro generator)

[Dover]

...The prototype has been working successfully at St Catherine's, a National Trust site near Windermere, opening up previously untapped energy.

The water wheel produces one to two kilowatts of power and generates at least 24kw hours of sustainable green energy in a day - just under the average household's daily consumption of about 28kw hours.

It will cost some £2,000 to fully install - and pay for itself inside two years.

The Beck Mickle "low head" micro hydro generator could potentially provide electricity to more than 50,000 British homes and could be used industrially..>

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=5492007&format=print

[Webster Green]

1. Very cool..

Thanx for posting this!

[papau]

2. Water drop of 8 inches means anyone on a river could get power

in the hill country.

Never knew what "low head" was (meaning the height the water dropped) until now.

[Dover]

3. Yes, and the potential far exceeds that scenario. Check out this thread >

I cross posted this in the Science forum:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=228x26180

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Funny how what's old is new. Waterwheels, windmills, passive

solar heating. :)

[nealmhughes]

5. Actually, we are trying to do that here on our farm in Northernmost Alabama.

A spring feeds our creek year round with constant flow and then feed Second Creek, which then goes into the Tennessee River.

We got the idea when the fire dept. used our ford to park a truck to fill up their tanker when the city's water level was low and the city was on water rationing yet our creek was gushing over 200gpm nonstop.

We are measuring the flow at various stages and the drop from various points, as we do not want a dam, rather a fish/mill pond that feed upstream and then reconnects above the ford, so that the downstream flow will never by interrupted. We propose excavating the pond, then make the race at the pond, then have the water go back downstream, with several islands in the pond and a cabin there also, and ultimately, the generator. There are the remains of several old water mills in the area, and I always wonder why they went away....