A New Era in Home-Owner Hydro
Energy and Environment
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Living off the Grid, Part III
If you thought hydroelectric power was only practical at
the bottom of a cascading torrent of water... you're in for
a surprise. Tapping the natural force of even small streams
using modern turbines can offer a lifetime's escape from
utility bills.
By James R. Udall
Two years ago, Norm and Sue Benzinger, owners of th Coulter
Lake Guest Ranch, a wilderness retreat in th Rockies, had a
problem: They were seeing too much of the propane delivery
man.
The ranch's propane bill had topped $10,000 in
1992—much of it consumed by a generator. Hoping to
slash his energy costs, Norm contacted Ken Olson, a
renewable energy expert who directs Solar Energy
International in nearby Carbondale, Colorado.
"He said he had a stream falling down the hillside,"
recalls Olson. "Turned out it was a great water power
site."
Working together, Olson and Benzinger installed a
hydroelectric turbine. Now the generator, which used to
drone for hours a day, has fallen silent. A water power
system that cost $6,000 will save $2,500 in its first
winter.
Over the last 10 years, small-scale hydropower technology
has taken a quantum leap thanks to the invention of the
microturbine. Inside a metal case that is smaller than a
bread box, a miniature water wheel, not much bigger than a
cinnamon roll, is coupled to a pickup truck generator. When
the wheel is spun by a jet of pressurized water,
electricity is created. The design is simple yet
sophisticated, a triumph of appropriate technology.
Progress has also been fueled by the dramatic evolution of
solid-state inverters and load controllers—the brains
in the Benzingers' system. A decade ago, inverters, which
transform direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC),
and con trollers, which govern electrical production, were
dumb, unreliable, and inefficient beasts. Tamed with
computer chips, they now perform the same tasks in a much
more intelligent, reliable, and energy-efficient manner.
Together, these advances have revolutionized the world of
homeowner hydro. Because a microturbine requires only a few
quarts or gallons of water per second, it's now possible
for even a slender stream to provide all the electricity a
house or modest farm requires.
Although this technology sometimes makes sense for people
whose homes are already connected to the utility, it's most
economical for those living, or contemplating, life "off
the grid"—a group that includes homesteaders as well
as farmers and ranchers who irrigate or own water
impoundments. With utilities charging $10,000 or more to
extend power lines a mile, an understanding of hydro basics
can prove valuable indeed.
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