Great Idea – Using water pressure for power

Above is a little news blurb from the folks over at Planet Forward that I find fascinating. It look at using the water pressure that is already in our freshwater or wastewater pipe network to spin in-pipe turbine and generate electricity. In gravity flow scenarios, these could be set up to capture the stored kinetic energy of the gravitational pull, making them a clean source of renewable energy. In others scenarios where the pipes have already been mechanically pressurized, they could be used as an energy recovery tool.

As you might expect, cost is a bit of an issue at this point in the product lifecycle. However, I would anticipate that this comes down rather dramatically as the product gain acceptance and can scale up its operations. Targeting its use for pipe replacement projects will also help drive the overall project costs down. If you’re digging up and replacing a section of pipe anyway, adding a section of this energy recovery pipe shouldn’t be a tremendously high incremental cost.

Overall, pretty neat stuff and a company to watch as they grow and expand their product universe.