aquarium powered generator?

[CHOMPERS]

Where's my other engineering buddies here???

HEY CHOMPERS! You still the Grand Poobah of that Engineering daycare center?

Dr Joe

.

We took a vote and me, myself, and I decided to stay out of this one. It is interesting to see what creative minds can do

And I'm not the Grand Poobah anymore. The torch has been passed.

 

[Dr Joe]

Aw..I was depending on you for torque multiplication !

I smell Thesis, huh...huh? . Maybe off the bio-wheel? huh?

 

[HydroReefSapper]

An inline hydro turbine, if designed correctly, and used in succession with some sort of venturi device to increase the flow rate before the turbine could bring you closer to achieving 99% energy recovery.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Interesting thread resurrection here. I read through the whole thing before i realized how old it was. I wonder if 16 years of innovation have made any of this more possible.

 

[suckerfish]

I love this thread! What everyone above missed is, you’re not pumping water up to make energy! You’re pumping water up to keep your fish alive, so might as well get the added benefit of the water falling back down. And yes, hopefully 16 years later, there’s something new that can be achieved. Thanks H HydroReefSapper for bumping this. I’m following

 

[jjohnwm]

This was silly in 2007 and is still silly in 2023. I get that the OP wasn't trying to create perpetual motion, but rather just trying to "get back" some of the energy that was being expended in the pumping of the water. The problem is that the only way this can possibly make sense is if the energy generated pays for the hardware required. The cost of the hardware would never be recouped by the pie-in-the-sky dream of generated electricity produced by a trickle of water dropping down a couple of feet; can't forget about maintenance either. Even if a 100%-efficient waste-free method of collecting and utilizing all the energy in the falling water existed...and it does not!...it won't be free to set up and operate. Theory always seems to smash headlong into practicality and the results are never cheap or pretty.

There's a big difference between actually being "green"...and simply making it look like you are "green" so as to delude yourself and others.

Physics versus optics.