make your own electricity - at micro level

Alright, this time it's neither anything new nor very interesting - but I found it intriguing... This is another of my very old ideas, may be more than 10 yrs old... This idea is not for all of us, but for people who do not have electricity because the government hasn't yet been able to expand the power grid to them.

We all know how a power generator works - the fuel is burnt in a combustion engine & drives a wheel - which runs the dynamo and that gives us electricity. But it requires fuel - which costs money... I want energy for FREE! Then it came to me, why not use a small wheel on the riverbank, which will spin as the water flows & that can run the dynamo - I think during the medieval age they used to grind wheat to make flour using this same technique.

Here in Bangladesh, most of the rivers are dead - thanx to our neighboring country - yet there's quite a few rivers running almost throughout the year - the installing such tiny power stations on the river bank can easily provide power to the villages. Just to prove this idea right, someone in Rangamati (yes, someone living far from the cities) did just that. I read it in a newspaper about two years back. He first installed one for himself & then rest of the village people chipped in to buy more dynamos so that every house can have at least 2 florescent lights and 1 fan. Now they have almost free electricity, except for small maintenance cost (better than the DESA bills!).

Now - let's improvise: How about making a box with a fan in the middle that will run the moment water flows through it. I'm not going into the mechanical details here, just giving the outline. This fan can run the dynamo. Now, just sink the whole unit under river water! But this one might need a bit more maintenance but we can have several of these lined up instead having medieval age wheels - which could be quite cumbersome.

When I was in Planning Commission - I saw LGED installing floating rubber dams in some rivers- the top part can work as a bridge & diverts water to the farming fields... When I asked one of the engineers if this water run dynamos could be hung underneath the dam - he said that it is very possible and he liked the idea lots. "It's a shame", he said, "That we do not have anything such to install under the dam & even if we could, we all know why the government would not be interested"

Well, enough for today... I think this micro-level power generation might not
have a HUGE impact on the country (which is why the government wouldn't be interested) but just think of all those villages right beside the river - having no electricity or even if they have 'Palli Bidyot' (Rural Electricity - a government project to provide limited amount of electricity to villages at a low price) - it stays for a few hours only. Just think of those kids in that village in Rangamati - they can study & their mother can stitch colourful patterns on cloths, which they sell to earn a living - after sunset.

Have a nice day :)