It is a mechanical problem that has troubled scientists since Archimedes and the ancient Greeks, but now a Scottish electrician has come up with the answer - and it could help consumers save thousands of pounds in energy bills.Ian Gilmartin, 60, has invented a mini water wheel capable of supplying enough electricity to power a house - for free. The contraption is designed to be used in small rivers or streams - ideal for potentially thousands of homes across Britain.It is the first off-the-shelf water-wheel system that can generate a good supply of electricity from as little as an eight-inch water fall. Mr Gilmartin, an electricianand inventor who was born near Cupar, Fife, was not prompted to think up his new device by high energy bills - he does not own a television and has never lived in a house with electricity.
But he has a
stream at the back of his house, and with the help of his friend and
PhD engineering student Bob Cattley, 58, he hopes to get the invention
into the shops by the end of this year.
Mr Gilmartin began
experimenting three years ago with yoghurt pots and wheelie bins in the
stream, the Beck Mickle, before test-running a prototype.
He and Mr Cattley, who live
in Kendal in Cumbria, took the results to the Lake District National
Park, and secured a £15,000 grant from the organisation's
sustainability fund.
The prototype has been
working successfully at St Catherine's, a NationalTrust site near
Windermere, opening up previously untapped energy.
The water wheel produces
one to two kilowatts of power and generates at least 24kw hours of
sustainable green energy in a day - just under the average household's
daily consumption of about 28kw hours.
It will cost some £2,000 to fully install - and pay for itself inside two years.
The Beck Mickle "low head"
micro hydro generator could potentially provide electricity to more
than 50,000 British homes and could be used industrially.
Mr Gilmartin said: "While we cannot say
this provides free electricity, because of the initial cost of buying
the machine, it is expected to pay for itself within two years and then
greatly reduce the owner's electricity bills after then."
Waterwheel.......
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Last ice age happened in less than a year
Magnets may make the brain grow stronger
Scientists claim dark matter discovery
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Worlds oldest known DNA discovered
The higher you are, the faster you age
Worlds first bionic fingers unveiled
Japan to put humanoid robot on moon by 2015 ?
Hadron Collider on verge of breakthrough ?
Is graphene the new silicon?
