Global warming's a fact. You don't need to look very far nowadays
to see the effects of it around us. More and more people accept the
fact that changing over from fossil based fuels to other viable
alternatives is the answer, personally I believe that's right.
So that brings one to the next step, choosing which alternative source of power suits you best? The most obvious one is something where the technology already exists and is well developed.
This naturally leads you to 'sun, wind and water'. Sun being solar power, wind is of course wind turbines and generators while water leads you to hydro-electric power systems.
These hydro or water powered systems are what I'd like to talk about here. They're easily built and small ones can easily power the average home.
Unfortunately most people associate these systems with huge ones which operate beside enormous dams housing huge banks of such equipment. Such ones are their very large cousins so to speak, but that doesn't mean you can't scale down the concept to one the size to power a home.
The fact is you can build a small one such as that rather inexpensively in your garage or home workshop. One very capable of powering the average house with ease.
It's true, you can, all you need to do is fulfil a few basic criteria to do it. The first is to have access to water pressure sustained by gravity feed, like from a dam or raised water tank. The second, a means of directing that water pressure through a water-wheel, usually through a water pipe of 40-50mm diameter.
Third, a conventional electric generator to couple your water-wheel onto. If you meet these three basic requirements you can easily make your own hydro-electric generator.
The water-wheel set up is best made as a fully sealed, welded, stainless steel unit that can easily be joined into the down-hill side of the water pipe close to your house and there coupled to the generator. On, off control provided by a stop valve on the up-hill side of the water-wheel.
So that brings one to the next step, choosing which alternative source of power suits you best? The most obvious one is something where the technology already exists and is well developed.
This naturally leads you to 'sun, wind and water'. Sun being solar power, wind is of course wind turbines and generators while water leads you to hydro-electric power systems.
These hydro or water powered systems are what I'd like to talk about here. They're easily built and small ones can easily power the average home.
Unfortunately most people associate these systems with huge ones which operate beside enormous dams housing huge banks of such equipment. Such ones are their very large cousins so to speak, but that doesn't mean you can't scale down the concept to one the size to power a home.
The fact is you can build a small one such as that rather inexpensively in your garage or home workshop. One very capable of powering the average house with ease.
It's true, you can, all you need to do is fulfil a few basic criteria to do it. The first is to have access to water pressure sustained by gravity feed, like from a dam or raised water tank. The second, a means of directing that water pressure through a water-wheel, usually through a water pipe of 40-50mm diameter.
Third, a conventional electric generator to couple your water-wheel onto. If you meet these three basic requirements you can easily make your own hydro-electric generator.
The water-wheel set up is best made as a fully sealed, welded, stainless steel unit that can easily be joined into the down-hill side of the water pipe close to your house and there coupled to the generator. On, off control provided by a stop valve on the up-hill side of the water-wheel.
