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LEICESTER, United Kingdom — A system for generating small quantities of electricity from waste water has been suggested by Tom Broadbent, a graduating industrial design student at Leicester's De Montfort University.
Called HighDro Power, Broadbent's brainwave uses an in-line turbine to generate electricity from falling waste water in the soil pipes of high-rise buildings.
Broadbent estimates that used in a seven-storey building, HighDro Power could knock up to £926 off the annual electricity bill. It would also qualify for feed-in tariffs.
"The inspiration for HighDro Power was literally a 'Eureka!' moment that came when I emptied a bath in a hotel and found that it cleared very quickly and with a large amount of force," says Broadbent. "It seemed logical that this energy should be harnessed in some way to create green electricity and help governments meet targets and it filled an obvious gap in the market."
The next stage is to test the system in a real building.
Broadbent is waiting to hear whether he will win accolades from the Institute of Engineering Designers and the Dyson Awards. He is also entering the Kevin McCloud Green Heroes award to win the opportunity to show HighDro Power at the Grand Designs Live show.
This article originally appeared on BusinessGreen.com, and is reprinted with permission.
Well, obviously its
Well, obviously its harnessing kinetic power to reclaim back (some) of the potential energy invested into the water when it was pumped up to the top of the building in the first place. But, yes, clogs would be a problem. I wonder if they can install them just on the pipes known to carry "graywater" and not sewage. For example, outlets from laundry facilities, etc. Well, its an innovative idea anyway.
You will need to install two
You will need to install two with an electric valve to switch to the backup when it gets clogged. We put these in at our manufacturing plant in TN and eventually it got clogged. We could not stop to the treatment plant to clean out the clogged one so we put in 2 for backup and it paid off. We also put one of these on the incoming water before it went through our RO purifier. Love the innovation. Good work.
It's a great idea, but one
It's a great idea, but one that could easily be combined with or used exclusively with stormdrain pipes instead. Though less frequent (well maybe not in London) the rain comes down with force that we get for free rather than using energy to pump water stories off the ground. It also lowers the possibility for clogging.
Another problem with using wastewater is that you would undoubtedly need to install clean-outs before each one of these devices which would be extra plumbing and also require access panels--far from impossible, but certainly needing some coordination.
It will get clogged up when
It will get clogged up when someone flushes some baby butt wipes. Even a sewage lift station has problems with those. Any turbine will get clogged.
Absolutely a brilliant idea !
Absolutely a brilliant idea ! ! The energy generated can be partially used to pump fresh water to overhead tank thereby reducing building's energy consumption.How do this turbine copes up with the foreign objects in sewage line ?
This device is regenerative
This device is regenerative in the sense that you can only recover the energy that was put into the water in order to pump it to the top of the structure. Due to friction, you will very likely recover much less. It may be more cost-effective to simply require more efficient booster pumps in your building codes.
The device has associated capital and maintenance costs.
Siting obstructive equipment in sanitary outlet piping may void manufacturers' warranties regarding backflow.