--- In [email protected], "Ron Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > You really need a *deep* drop to get enough speed into the water flow to turn the turbines - I doubt if G.Brook is enough. > > Ron Jones
Er, is that right? You can turn a turbine with any flow if the turbine's small enough. It's just a question of whether the capital and maintenance cost makes small-scale electricity generation worthwhile. And you don't need a drop - just an outlet at the bottom of a body of water where the "head" provides the pressure of water to turn the turbine. The MSC experimented with hydro electric power at the lock sluices, but the debris coming down caused problems and I'm not sure if it still works. Now here's two ideas. If you dipped a small turbine in the water behind the prop of a narrowboat and fed electricity back to the boat... (or would the drag factor balance out any energy generated?) Avoid floods and save energy. Lake Vrynwy provides drinking water to Liverpool. When the lake is full the water flows to the Severn - so when the Severn's in flood it would help (in a miniscule way) for people in Liverpool to draw off water and let it flow into the Mersey... Can't they attach a mini-turbine to the tap? Come to that, given the effort needed to provide water pressure for drinking water in buildings, why doesn't every pipe have a turbine above the tap? (Because everyone would waste water generating electricity!) I should point out that I'm not a scientist! Steve
