When you hear the words hydroelectric you probably think dam, or maybe a big underwater turbine. Small scale hydroelectric hasn’t really been tapped into, until now. The LucidPipe is the latest offering from Lucid Energy and is designed to be an inexpensive option for capturing the energy from water flowing through a city’s gravity fed pipes. The way the LucidPipe works is small turbines in a pipe capture the energy of falling water as it passes through the pipe. A device on top then relays the energy to power either a large city building or to offset the city’s energy bill. The city of Portland has upgraded a major drinking water pipe to use the LucidPipe system, and Lucid Energy is working on developing a pipe for individual consumers.
Drawing power from water pipes
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