Water Power – DIY Energy Generation

Water has been in use for thousands of years to perform useful work and allow mankind to more easily accomplish many previously tedious tasks. In India and Rome water wheels and watermills were built and powered mills which produced flour from grain as well as used for sawing timber and stone. In China, watermills were widely used since the Han Dynasty from 206 BC to 220 AD. Spanning over four centuries, the period of the Han Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history.

The power of a wave of water released from a tank was used for extraction of metal ores in a method known as hushing. By releasing a huge amount of water over a stretch of land the top layers would be washed away thereby exposing the lower ore veins. The method was first used at the Dolaucothi gold mine in Wales from 75 AD onwards, but had been developed in Spain at such mines as Las Medulas. Hushing was also widely used in Britain in the Medieval and later periods to extract lead and tin ores. It later evolved into hydraulic mining when used during the California gold rush.

Jumping up to the present we have many simple technologies that we can use on a small scale to generate energy. One of the most simple, efficient and popular generators is the Pelton Wheel. The Pelton wheel is an impulse turbine which is among the most efficient types of water turbines. It was invented by Lester Allan Pelton in the 1870s. The Pelton wheel extracts energy from the impulse (momentum) of moving water, as opposed to its weight like traditional overshot water wheel. Although many variations of impulse turbines existed prior to Pelton’s design, they were less efficient than Pelton’s design; the water leaving these wheels typically still had high speed, and carried away much of the energy. Pelton’s paddle geometry was designed so that when the rim runs at ½ the speed of the water jet, the water leaves the wheel with very little speed, extracting almost all of its energy, and allowing for a very efficient turbine. Here’s an awesome video of a very simple and efficient set-up of the Pelton Turbine.

There are also many other variants of efficient water turbines that you can setup yourself. The following videos will provide you with some examples.

Producing your own power is very “empowering” (pun intended-)). Below are some great books from Amazon that are a great add for your sustainable library -