Noob Turbine/Generator Question

[Sean Turner]

Hello, I want to thank you for taking the time to look at this post. I have been toying with the idea of helping to use alternative energies at my cottage. I have a lot of different thoughts about how to achieve this.

One thought is to try to use the "bi-products" that my house creates. For example the central air unit on my house and the pond pump running in the yard. Does anyone know of any good links to check out for some informtion regarding those uses?

My first thought is to try to create a micro hydroelectric system from my pond's pump. This pump is supposed to move 1500gph at a 3ft head. Perhaps I could generate enough energy to have this thing pay for itself.

Can someone point me in the right direction to purchase/construct a generator/turbine unit to accomplish this.

Thanks for the help,

Sean.

[Rob Beckers]

Hi Sean,

Do you mean using your pond pump to pump up water, and then run it down through a turbine? That's not going to work. You loose energy along the way; the pump is not 100% efficient, there's friction etc. So you always spend more energy than you get back out of it, and consequently it will never pay for itself.

-RoB-

[Sean Turner]

Is it possible to get 30% - 50% back? If it has to run anyway, perhaps I can store teh energy and use it for another purpose.

Thanks for the time and effort,

Sean.

[Dave Turpin]

What is the pond pump doing? If it is just recirculating water or pumping it over a waterfall, then effectively the energy you put into the pump simply makes up for the energy lost in the system due to friction. If you then add a wheel to extract power, you will first need to make that power at the pump. And the first law of thermodynamics wins again.

If you think of the Earth as a closed system, the only energy that enters it is the sun and gravity. Gravity drives tides. The sun drives everything else. Wind power (uneven heating of the Earth's atmosphere creates wind), water power (evaporation in the sea creates highland rain that forms streams), and solar power. If you are not using one of these 4 sources you get nothing. (unless you burn a fuel or convert mass into energy)