[HN Gopher] Micro Hydro Turbine Is Far Cheaper Than Solar
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       Micro Hydro Turbine Is Far Cheaper Than Solar
        
       Author : simonebrunozzi
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2023-01-29 18:54 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
        
       | The_Double wrote:
       | This video feels like just a product page read out loud.
        
       | wkearney99 wrote:
       | If you have the moving water to drive it, and the infrastructure
       | to manage it, sure. If not, panels are a lot less expensive.
        
         | puzzlingcaptcha wrote:
         | And if you can't dam it (you usually can't at that scale) then
         | it can't be any moving water either, but with sufficient head
         | and flow that is also seasonally reliable. This narrows down
         | installation sites by a lot.
        
         | bell-cot wrote:
         | Suggested: 's/moving water/very reliable moving water/'.
         | 
         | A who lot of smaller rivers & streams have highly seasonal flow
         | rates. And that's in years which do _not_ qualify as
         | "drought".
        
           | mikeyouse wrote:
           | Aside from just flow, you need substantial head -- their flow
           | chart shows that their smallest 500kw turbine needs at a
           | minimum 1,200gpm and ~60ft head through the turbine, so you'd
           | need a river with much more than that so you're not fully
           | destroying the ecosystem. That really, really restricts the
           | possible locations.
        
             | ricardobeat wrote:
             | In the video they talk about installations with 5m head
             | (300kW) and 2m head (15kW).
        
       | mr3martinis wrote:
       | There are lots of examples of DIY hydro that's even 'micro-er' on
       | YouTube.
       | 
       | here's one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KyL1-0A0Gw
        
       | codeulike wrote:
       | ... but sunlight is far more abundant than flowing water
        
         | thehappypm wrote:
         | Except at night
        
           | Nasrudith wrote:
           | Thermal solar is an (expensive) option technically.
        
       | voisin wrote:
       | Off topic but does anyone have experience with wind turbines on
       | their property? We get a heck of a lot of wind on a regular basis
       | (located at the top of a hill and it seems the stack effect helps
       | us with abundant wind every afternoon - does a great job cooling
       | the house!)
        
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       (page generated 2023-01-29 23:02 UTC)