Quote:
Originally Posted by Ahmabeliever
What is hydro power, if not this same principle for energy storage. A dam is just a big battery, a water tower a smaller version.
And inefficient or not, harnessing the power instead of just burning the charcoal makes a lot of sense to me. ...
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The problem I think is that a water tower is a
much much smaller version of a dam, and wheras the dam collects rainwater and runoff (essentially filled free by gravity), one has to expend energy to pump the water up into the tower. At 8 pounds/gallon, the expense & size of a water tower sufficient to drive a generator for any usable length of time seems unjustified.
I do think a small water tower is a good idea for storing emergency water, as well as providing enough hydraulic head to use it with a hose for irrigation. Using 32 gallon plastic garbage cans on platforms that raise them just below the roof line, and diverting the gutter downspout to fill them is an idea I have muddled over, but as I rent I haven't the opportunity to build platforms, and my current landlkord frowns on me modifying the downspouts. I do keep a 32 gallon emergency water barrel outside.
If your stove is a wood-gasifier retort, then you can use the heat or not for a number of things green. Putting a closed vessel full of wood over the fire, with a port to a condenser coil, turns the wood to charcoal and delivers wood gas. Then there is the obvious cooking. Or using the same setup as used for the woodgas, fill the vessel with unpotable water and make distilled water.
That's all I got right now.
