The Genius of Small Hydro Turbines

[@UndecidedMF]

What do you think about decentralized and small hydro? Click here www.eightsleep.com/mattferrell to improve your sleep fitness with Eight Sleep and use my code MATT to get $200 off! If you liked this video, check out: Have we been doing Solar wrong all along? kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqLMq3-Hec5seK8 Corrections: 3:28 - We made a mistake between the calculation and the final script. It’s 500,000,000x more than the average faucet.

[@robertheinrich2994]

"Das Genie der blattlosen Vortex-Wasserkraft. Klicken Sie hier, um Ihre Schlaffitness mit Eight Sleep zu verbessern und verwenden Sie meinen Code MATT, um 200 $ Rabatt zu erhalten! " what does that mean? can you explain it? it's from your video description.

[@firstlast2621]

Hey Matt, great video as always! The chart at 08:03 is kind of misleading in combination with what you say. It shows total energy consumption of countries rather than the average per person while you're saying at that moment that those in the US tend to use a lot more electricity than people in other parts of the world. Now it seems as if the average Chinese citizen uses more than a US citizen but that's not true

[@PetraKann]

The Patent Rights to Vortex hydropower is owned by someone in Australia. There are a few prototypes and small scale Units operating in Australia and around the world.

[@PetraKann]

@@firstlast2621The US barely makes up 4% of the global population yet consumes 1/3 of the world's resources and emits almost 30% of the world's pollution and waste.

[@stephenrickstrew7237]

Would you please do an episode about the Bath County Va pumped hydro installation… it’s been quietly working away for some time now …

[@lindacgrace2973]

So, basically, anywhere there has been a water-wheel driven mill historically, we can put in a small eco-friendly hydro. Sounds like a great idea to me! I do not believe that we will ever find a "silver bullet" that will solve all of our energy needs with a single system. I think it is much more likely that we will continue to expand our options - rooftop bladeless wind turbines, micro-hydro, more efficient solar panels that are manufactured with fewer rare elements, etc.

[@moos5221]

regular wind turbines work well, but yeah, everything can be better ofc. i've watched plenty of washing machine hydro power videos here on youtube, it's really easy to build one yourself IF you have access to flowing water on your property (which most people sadly won't have).

[@lindacgrace2973]

@@moos5221 True. More applicable to east of the Mississippi rather than the semi-arid and arid west.

[@meilyn22]

@@moos5221 It's not that easy. The flowing water must have a certain height level or power level to produce substantial energy.

[@gravitaslost]

Not really even limited to that, you can chain these things together, in theory you have mile after mile of them along the same river one for every X meters of drop. Unlike wind and solar the reliability of these systems makes them actually useful at a grid scale.

[@meilyn22]

@gravitaslost Water doesn't work that way, dude. But okay lol.

[@xXProtozoaXx]

I love the idea of small hydro. There are homesteaders and off grid folks who are doing small hydro set ups to compliment solar or wind they have as well. This helps offset days of rainy weather is some areas.

[@regularguy8110]

Great call. I hadn't read your comment.

[@terenceiutzi4003]

I visited a small hydro project in BC, and the guide said they had just done a 50,000,000 upgrade, and now it can suply 1,000 homes with free electricity. So I tried to explain to him that at 1 percent interest, that is $500.00 per home with no upkeep or debt repayment! We can not afford hydro!

[@yt.personal.identification]

Use the hydro as storage by pumping spare during times of high solar generation. Mini pumped hydro storage.

[@Ryan-ff2db]

@@terenceiutzi4003 50mil isn't what I'd call small. Typically, hydro power is the cheapest form of power generation available including fossil fuels, and has been for a hundred years. Solar generation may technically be cheaper nowadays but if you include all costs including storage, transmission, and uptime, big hydro is still cheaper. Not sure about the small scale though, seems costs vary hugely.

[@daxconnell7661]

my dad was telling me a group of people that owned cottages near a place that had running water got approval after submitting a plan to build a micro dam to power their places and sell the excess back to the power grid when not in use. i live in BC Canada, and our government was talking about the future of micro dams instead of colossal dam sites until Site C project dam was built

[@HiFiGuy1]

As an old dad, I appreciate the puns. :)

[@Erbmon]

The dry delivery does it for me

[@AnakiteOG]

Smoothly slipped in TLC - "Don't go chasing waterfalls" lyrics😂

[@generaljellyroll8737]

Ya, he is winning at word play

[@elfshadowx]

@@AnakiteOG Stick to the rivers and lakes that you're used to

[@AnakiteOG]

@@elfshadowx I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all But I think you're moving too fast

[@TwilightMysts]

I came across a vortex turbine years ago and loved the concept. But while I like them better than dams in several ways, I will point out that dams are not just there to generate power. They are a flood control and water storage device as well. Places that were previously unusable because of spring floods or summer droughts are now viable thanks to dams.

[@kittimcconnell2633]

That purpose is better served by a series of smaller connected water bodies

[@benraevsky9472]

True however if California increased the organic Carbon content of their agricultural lands they would be able to hold on to the water that falls on those lands, produce higher quality food with little or no inputs and have a water surplus. That increase in soil carbon would take a small change in management. Increasing soil carbon has been demonstrated to be possible with some agricultural producers increasing soil carbon content by over one percent a year. 4 years to being free from the need to siphon water. By products More and better-quality food with a lower cost to the producer. I could list all the benefits, but this is a comment on KZbin.

[@chucknorris277]

But muh environment and snails

[@masonjeans6978]

I did an entire research paper on this. Basically all large hydro projects that are viable have basically been done. A simple diversion small hydro project given proper consideration of down stream flow and now stacking a bunch of them, can be very beneficial for small power needs (maybe small factories and such)

[@EndoftheBeginning17]

What's funny is this was how the industrial Revolution kicked off, waterwheels making machinery move with direct physical power, today one ca now hook up a electric motor to act as a generator and power up more effecient machinery to do the same.

[@CountingStars333]

Factories crave fossil fuels. They can't function without big coal and oil. E vehicles suk. Oil will last forever.

[@customerservice2902]

I literally spit my empanada out when you made that "chasing waterfalls" joke!!! 🤣🤣🤣 at 3:53

[@redavni1]

The whole episode script was on point. Inspired work.

[@beastinsince85]

Him: "Don't go chasing waterfalls" Me: "it would be hella funny if he said...no fucking way 😆😆😆

[@johnp5250]

3:54 T-Boz, Left Eye, n Chilil (TLC) reference for the younger than 35.

[@PrimaryIgnition]

me: did he just do that? yup, confirmed

[@Smitty_Werbenjagermanjenson]

I'm under 35 and caught it immediately. In fact, I suspected I would hear that line in this video

[@jonevansauthor]

Left Eye died 22 years ago. I feel so old.

[@RacerXJG]

He tossed that in w/o cracking a smile. I would have had the see what I did there look on my face.

[@colinkulasik1128]

Yup he just slipped that in there 😂

[@KnugLidi]

Head is the biggest factor in all micro hydro. a 1.5 m head requiring 1.5 m3/s is a HUGE amount of water for micro hydro. But it is usually easier to find 15m head at 0.15 m3/s and get essentially the same power output. Environmental regulations typically forbid working within the water body itself, so you have to divert and return. But the percentage of flow you can divert is quite limited. Far easier to get a small volume. So, the search for sites almost always focuses on small flow, high head.

[@TheKajunkat]

I remember reading an old article about a small town in the eastern US that wanted to convert a tailrace from an old mill into a small hydro electric generator capable of supplying all the electricity needs of the town. The infrastructure was all mostly in place and the dam had been there about a century so it should have been an easy job. Enter, the government.... It took them about a decade to get through all the red tape, injunctions and studies to basically drop a turbine into an already existing structure. The biggest obstacle of doing anything decentralized is the power of the centralized resisting it.

[@PatrickKniesler]

Definitely the biggest hurdle Turbulent has had.

[@EdBruceWRX]

You mean just stop regulating and it will magically work. Ask Boeing hows thay working out?

[@waytoomuchtimeonmyhands]

If there were no regulations and the dam failed, they'd be running to the gov't with their hands out, complaining about how long it takes to get their disaster relief.

[@mlisaj1111]

True, but for every good novel idea, there are a plenty of dumb or dangerous ones. Plus, if you are the guy signing off that a project is safe or feasible….no surprise that the new or unusual projects will likely cause you concern and be slow compared to “been there, done that” ones. AND even for seemingly simple projects, anything that even touches water has many stakeholders (residents, housing developers, agriculture, fishing tourism, etc). It’s should not grind things to a halt, but “meh…build whatever” has its downside too.

[@NFSHeld]

There is one "problem" with this video: you are naming the advantages of SHP, especially SETUR. But naming the limits of operation without graphing the relations is meaningless. Yes, SETUR-L can produce 43.8 to 65.7 MWh per year, in water depths of 20 meters, with a head of 1 meter, and with flow rates of 2 liters per second. But certainly not all at once. Their manual has a perfectly fine graph that shows at 2 liters per second you'd get more like 750 W, and 5 kW is their rated power at 4 liters per second. Both in a hermetically sealed environment, mind you. Depriving us of such graph is unnecessarily unscientific behavior, more akin to marketing speech than educational tech talks. Please provide us with all the accurate information, not just the highlights.

[@DarkRider1768]

Think the goal of the video was to get the concept in front of people that may not know about it, rather than be a comprehensive argument in favor of them.

[@NFSHeld]

@@DarkRider1768Yes, but his data is most likely coming from that manual anyway, and the graph is plotted directly underneath. And as it is right there, might as well just show it while talking about the numbers, instead of rolling the same few promo footage clips for the third time. It is small things like these that feel like an unforced error in an otherwise quite scientifically accurate video. You know what I mean? It's like "Perfect score if it wasn't for that small, easily avoidable thing, that appears factually wrong now."

[@FloridaMeng]

This isn't a science channel lol. You can't expect that kind of quality from this guy. It is a marketing channel, hence, his name; Undecided.

[@cinebenjamin]

Did… we not watch the same video?

[@SR-de8rd]

@@DarkRider1768 a simple "while it can work in these conditions its power output will decrease" would have been enough

[@Thats_my_Point]

I own an Eight Sleep. Huge caveat! It’s great, when it works! Go pummel the company to force them to redesign the pod to be fully self contained, electronically. No wi-fi required is necessary for its long term lifespan and reliability

[@dosadoodle]

Also, a hefty subscription fee is now required to access critical features. And you must subscribe when completing the purchase as well, so the listed price is a bait-and-switch. I don't trust companies that behave like this.

[@kalrandom7387]

Thank you I was going to look into it but I don't have home internet nor do I want them tracking through my phone

[@samalmo]

Plus it comes with all the downsides of a water bed worrying about punctures. Also it's like 2200$ + subscription, did not know about the wifi issues tho, seemed to good to be true anyways

[@Graghma]

I bought their original mattress topper on indiegogo. The sleep data told me that I never had a good night's sleep on it (seriously... I never scored above the mid 80s). Also, as a single person... the lack of the app to handle just one person instead of two is... confusing. I sent them a complaint about this shortly after getting my crowdfunded topper. They refunded the whole thing for me in response. It did mostly work well as a bed warmer afterwards. Pretty sure that isn't fixed... over ten years later.

[@misterhat5823]

If it was a good product, they wouldn't need YT shills to sell it.

[@kelRGo]

That was the best blending of a TLC song into a new article 😂 I’ve heard yet. Nice writing 👍

[@edburdo]

Just based on this video... i think the small hydro units sounds like a good solution. The town I used to live in had a river channeled through it (cement/brick lined passage). Putting a couple of these in there would be great during the non-ice season.

[@JamesArthur-qz2fm]

Use small Hydro to charge a large battery

[@stevejohnstonbaugh9171]

Brilliant! This is a YT that gives me hope for the future of planet earth. This is where governmental spending for clean power generation should be focused globally. Small, decentralized power production (hydro, solar and wind) located close to the power consumer eliminates most of the inefficiencies found in todays obsolete power transmission systems. I believe these projects should be organized to supply a microgrid CoOp that only connects to the national grid when the CoOp has surplus power to sell and when there is a planned preventative maintenance shutdown. The CoOP should be responsible for metering, collections, establishing rates, maintenance, paying current bills and capital debt service. BRAVO! For the engineers and manufacturers!

[@jont6709]

The problem is laws in the US have made small hydro illegal in most places.

[@genxtech5584]

No that's not the problem. Those laws are in place to prevent massive damage caused by 'most' types of hydro in the form of dams and impellers. With traditional dams that water being retained can cause significant flow changes downstream when a lot of upstream tributaries start each building their own dam. There is a need to coordinate how these systems work together for retention and flow and 99% of people who want to make use of small hydro also don't want to corporate with a central authority. Us Americans have a lot of good things going for us, but working with our neighbors usually isn't one of them.

[@Fenthule]

@@genxtech5584 Can honestly just boil that whole last bit down to "playing nice with others" sadly...

[@utooboobnoob]

@@genxtech5584This thinking is predicated on the idea of an infallible “central authority” with immutable policy / philosophy which ignores new evidence, methodology and prevailing thought. The Army Corps of Engineers should be the only example needed to poke a hole in your assertion. Central authority, government and laws are written by people. Well meaning educated people can be and are often wrong.

[@genxtech5584]

@@utooboobnoob LOL not at all. Immutable policy is insane. Working together with a central authority is not. I'm not arguing the policies shouldn't change. I'm saying they're in place because people only care about themselves and critically fail to think ahead. I'm not faulting us it's how we've survived to be what we are today. Your point is exactly the problem with the current system. They write policies once then expect them to stay relevant forever.

[@utooboobnoob]

@@genxtech5584 I agree that "immutable policy is insane". Have you ever had the pleasure of dealing with county, state and federal agencies? I have. Some of their policies outright contradict each other. The decision makers at various levels adhere to the letter of the law / code until it no longer suits them or their agency's latest mandate. I owned a piece of property with some wetlands on it. State and federal regulations made it prohibitively expensive to develop. There was also talk of potential endangered reptiles on the parcel. It was going to be onerous to develop; I tried for a few years. But then the mayor and county board stepped in. To placate their constituents, they needed to build affordable housing. My once difficult and environmentally endangered property looked great. Turns out all the state really wanted were mitigation fees to let the project commence. All of a sudden the state's environmental agency started referring to my wetlands as "junk wetlands". The talk of possible endangered reptiles ceased. Army Corps, took 11x longer, but eventually rubber stamped the project. I made out like a bandit. All's well that ends well, right? The argument could be made that these regulations and department ethos were put aside for the greater good. But in all honesty, a development half a mile down the road would have accomplished the same goal, destroyed far less "sensitive" land and been built much quicker.

[@chrisdaniel1339]

Matt, people in many European countries especially the UK and Germany, are resurrecting old mill sites and previously un-utilized canals for electricity using precision laser cut, welded steel waterwheels. The company HydroWatt in Germany has been leading the way for the last few decades building hundreds of steel and some wood waterwheels to make clean power. HydroWatt has made small wheels and some very large and powerful wheels, the largest is 6 meter(19.69 ft) in diameter, with a 6 meter(19.69 ft) face, with a flow rate of 4,000 liters/ second(141.26 cu.ft/sec), it has a mechanical power of 107kw and an electrical output of 95kw. The company also manufactures overbuilt rugged all in one gearbox/generator units to handle the massive torque these wheels make to produce green electricity with minimal maintenance. Water wheels have many of the features you discussed in this video, they do no need a dam, a tiny weir and a diversion canal can develop enough head, that being said there are thousands of old mill site in Europe that already have dams making them very attractive for power generation. Waterwheels are fish friendly as they will pass over the wheel uninjured. Waterwheels are ultra low maintenance. Correctly engineered Overshot waterwheels have an efficiency of 90-93% and even in lower flow situations a wheel will produce the maximum electricity based on the amount(weight) of water over the wheel, turbines suffer in this area as below a certain head they will not function or function inefficiently. It would make a fantastic video series if you were to take a trip to Europe to see some of these installations, interview people at HydroWatt and other waterwheel manufactures, featuring numerous sites producing clean energy.

[@kaitlyn__L]

My dad lives near a similar diversion based small hydro. He says that you wouldn’t even know it was there unless you went off the footpath looking for the awning. Apparently it’s amazingly quiet.

[@NazariiBardiuk]

I love the puns and would like to see a small counter in the corner with the number of puns intended

[@CiaranMcHale]

One pun in ten did.

[@McStealy]

Like the cinemas sins counter *ding*

[@jannepeltonen2036]

Nah, some of the puns contain references to e.g. 90s songs, and I kind of enjoy just spotting the ones I do spot and not spotting the ones I don't :D

[@MaximilianBrandt]

Installed in a day huh? What about pouring concrete for the river diversion? Was that also done in a day? Was it a same day or were they a few weeks or month apart to allow concrete to sit?

[@insaneshepherd8678]

Something seems off with the numbers on the Brazilian dam. If 62.200 m^3/s is 500.000 times the faucet then the faucet would spew out about 0,1 m^3/s which is still 100l/s. You have some mighty faucets in the US.

[@quifred]

I was thinking the same thing.

[@jtleinbach]

Agreed. Keeping things in US terms, 985,890,099 gallons/min for the dam divided by 500,000 would be 1,972 gallons/min for a facuet. That's pretty spot on 1000x what it really is. Looks like someone slipped 3 decimal places somewhere in there.

[@scania9786]

@@jtleinbach probably when they did m3 to liter part of the m3 to gallon conversion

[@UndecidedMF]

Sorry about that! We transposed a decimal. It’s 500,000,000x more than the average faucet. I’ve added a correction to video description.

[@cybernetic2024]

Transposed 3 decimals. The problem isn't that you made a mathematical error, the problem is that it is so obvious and yet it wasn't picked up - so how can I trust anything else that you have said?

[@PerryTamte]

Loved the word play - particularly, “no need to go chasing waterfalls!”

[@dus10dnd]

I think one of the other valuable considerations with solar and smaller footprint options for hydro and wind can help decentralize the grid. We have been pushing towards greater centralization of the grid for 15+ years now and it is the wrong direction. Decentralization means that we do not need to have nearly as much long-haul transfer of power which leads to losses. It also means that existing plants do not need to scale.

[@Erik-pu4mj]

I think both directions are worth pursuing and, in fact, must be pursued. We'd like to generate energy from a bunch of locations, distribute it as-necessary, and store the excess--all as efficiently as possible. Even if every roof and window generated energy, I expect that urban areas will still need centralized energy generation and storage for both efficiency and cost reasons. So, I think it's important to develop technology for centralized grids that allow many different energy generation and storage methods to 'play well together'--an effort I mostly hear in the context of centralized 'smart grids.' TL;DR: I believe that, like the many different types of renewable energy generation, the best solution uses many different scales of each technology as appropriate.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@Erik-pu4mjexactly. Continent wide interconnected smart microgrids is the answer

[@benraevsky9472]

Its the standard march of businesses. The industry starts out decentralized and as the most competitive producers gain a competitive advantages and economies of scale increase, they push out or buy the other competitors. This trend will continue until they are so large that they cannot fulfill the function they were started on or the business environment changes. Large organizations are not as nimble as smaller ones and change can be too slow to adapt. Collapse follows and the industry begins to decentralize. It is a very common phenomenon in Nature. During the collapse other entities that have a small competitive advantage due to the rate at which they can adapt move in to take advantage of the Niche.

[@pindapoy1596]

@dus10dnd What is decentralizing? You mean not having an interconnected system? And if your system fails would you not like help from your neighbors?

[@dus10dnd]

@@pindapoy1596 No, centralization is having the control in fewer hands. Decentralization is having the control in more hands.

[@MCP647]

The SETUR reminds me of a cone crusher, I was immediately thinking there's no way fish are surviving going through that, then Matt got to talking about the screens for fish and debris protection.

[@leondrolet8695]

Matt, nice video. I'd like to comment on your channel, overall: I appreciate that you do not act condescending towards people who have higher levels of skepticism toward "clean" power technologies. Your demeanor and offering more balanced analysis helps make the info more accessible and compelling rather than the sometimes smug or even confrontational approaches I've seen on a few other channels. Thank you.

[@UndecidedMF]

Appreciate it. I try to be as inclusive as I can in the approach.

[@dpjazzy15]

I think the coolest part of this turbine, is the ability to allow larger object through the turbine. It's not going to get hung up on pebble flowing through it. Conventional turbines are very precise and picky.

[@screamsofthedead]

Really happy you touched on this again. I think about small hydro from time to time.

[@CoolMusicToMyEars]

Dam thats good 👍 small compact rubber coated blades great idea, my late father had a cottage with land & a lake, I think how much power 🔋 could have been generated at the outlet of that lake, Hydroelectric Wind & enough room for solar, But in the middle of the countryside not many jobs, so we eventually moved, certainly that place had a lot of potential 👍 I need another one like it as I'm retired now !

[@cbr5350]

I don't know how you can drop SO many puns, jokes and song lyrics with a straight face. Matt, you are The Best !!!

[@Vort_tm]

I’m glad this video got the TLC it deserved.

[@AgentGold-AI]

00:00 🌊 Hydropower as a steady energy source despite aging infrastructure 00:34 🔄 Potential for growth through small hydropower (SHP) innovations 00:44 🌀 Advancements in eco-friendly hydroelectric turbines 01:00 🌍 Impact and benefits of small hydro 01:13 👋 Introduction to the video and sponsorship mention 01:20 🔍 Exciting developments in micro-scale hydroelectric efficiency and safety 01:50 🤔 The focus on small hydro, decentralization, and their stakes 02:06 📚 Explaining "hydraulic head" in hydropower systems 02:39 🏔 Itaipú Dam as a case study for traditional hydropower's scale 03:41 💡 Vortex Hydro and Turbulent's role in accessible renewable energy through SHP 04:04 🌪 Introduction to the Vortex Hydro approach and its history 04:39 💤 Sponsor segment discussing Eight Sleep 04:50 🌀 Detailing the operation of bladeless hydroelectric turbines 06:11 🔬 Inspiration and study of vortexes for energy harnessing 06:41 📐 How the SETUR turbine operates using water's motion 06:59 🚫 SETUR's operational capacity without needing a dam 07:26 🔌 Power output potential of the SETUR models 07:44 ⚡ Drawing comparisons in energy consumption and SHP's global applicability 08:21 🧊 SETUR's operational limits and environmental considerations 08:54 ❄ Challenges concerning the SETUR's usage in freezing temperatures and debris 09:14 🐟 Introduction of Turbulent's eco- and fish-friendly hydropower solution 10:29 💡 Power Specs and Scalability of Turbulent Turbines 10:58 🔌 High Capacity Factor of Turbulent Micro Power Plants 11:36 ❄ Dealing with Seasonality and Ice in Turbulent Turbines 12:11 🤔 Pros and Cons of Mini vs. Macro Power Plants 13:06 🌍 Global Installations and Environmental Benefits of Turbulent Turbines 13:57 🛡 Safety and Environmental Risks of Large Dams vs. SHPs 14:27 🌱 Global Capacity and Expansion Potential of Small Hydro Key Moments by Agent Gold AI

[@einarmikkelsenPNW]

Awesome TLC reference 😂

[@ao4v0ws]

@UndecidedMF you had to work in the lyrics 3:53... LOL awesome job!

[@AquilaSornoAranion]

What's better about saying "SHP" than "small hydro"? Initialisms and acronyms...

[@julianshepherd2038]

It's cool, obviously you are not.

[@AquilaSornoAranion]

@@julianshepherd2038 Obviously. I'd like to be more like you

[@moos5221]

@@AquilaSornoAranion try harder please

[@AquilaSornoAranion]

@@moos5221 Just so I can also tell others who are not cool, what do you cool people think is so good about speaking in initialisms?

[@petergerdes1094]

He probably wrote the script and when you write you often don't count syllables.

[@Goku-vi5ky]

The timing of this is amazing, i have been looking into hydro to develop a project in one of the locations i oversee, this is brilliant. Thanks Matt

[@LostYogi]

1:02 Oh Matt "Why should we give a DAM" 😅

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

I appreciate your commitment to the pun. Also, a small scale hydro system like this is my ideal choice for off grid energy. The turbulent flow design is my favorite, though probably overkill for a single family home - maybe ideal for a small community.

[@donsample1002]

Every time I see one of those Turbulant promotional videos I’m struck by how much of the potential energy of those installations is being wasted by all the turbulence in their water flow.

[@innercityprepper]

not as much wasted energy as not having anything there collecting some of the energy....

[@V3ritas1989]

@@innercityprepper well... first you have to pay grid connection somewhere in the mountains or fields. Thats at least a few km of power cable connections you have to pay for before you can feed into the grid. Then you have power cable losses over distance and low production to begin with and sadly you will end up with a negative cost benfit calucation. Unless you have a consumer on side, it makes little sense nowadays.

[@giovannip.1433]

In New Zealand the Fisher and Paykel Gentle Annie washing machine motor is used as a DIY generator for home hydro energy production...

[@moos5221]

Dam, I enjoy the constant family friendly swearing in this video.

[@jurgennicht4626]

No dam! That's the point of small turbines 😉

[@Rathmun]

@@jurgennicht4626 So you don't give a dam.

[@mikep3226]

The town I live in has a real problem with having the street sign for Dam Road stolen. They keep replacing it with better and stronger mountings, though. It's a dead end road that leads past the "Glory Hole" (the overflow drain in the shape of a morning glory) to the base of the Harriman Dam. Getting the pun engine going.

[@Smo1k]

@@mikep3226 Dam Road to Glory Hole? If I'd put it on a map for a roleplaying game, the players wouldn't have believed it 😆

[@tomkelly8827]

Hey Matt, great video! Yeah I think this would be a real boon for farms and small communities. Micro grids. For countries and cities it seems like big hydro makes good sense. I live in Ontario, Canada and we went big on Nuclear while our neighbouring provinces like Manitoba, Quebec and Newfoundland went big on Hydro. Both systems do work but Hydro seems to be the cheaper option in the long run. We have so many unpowered existing dams and I think that those dams are the lowest hanging fruit in terms of adding more power sources to our grid. Then we still do have loads of potential hydro dam locations that we could add in here as well. I'd say that on balance large scale hydro is the way to go when possible and adding fish spawning ladders is the thing to do with dams going forward

[@philiptaylor7902]

A small tributary of the river Thames close to where I had 34 watermills recorded in the early 19th century on a nine mile stretch.

[@peteglass3496]

The lower River Lea was tidal up to Hackney Wick [today's 2012 Olympic Park] so tide mills operated at least as far as Three Mills just up from Bow. Not sure whether the tide could be usefully used higher than that. Today the tide is stopped where the Lea joins the Thames and essentially all the Lea catchment's water is used to supply London.

[@philiptaylor7902]

@@peteglass3496 Salt water brings a whole load of problems of its own, principally corrosion. But there are plenty of locks further up onto the Regent's Canal. Perhaps turbines like this could be integrated into the locks, they have a perfect hydrostatic head, like the weirs and locks all along the Thames.

[@stephenauty2402]

Which tributary is that? the Thame?

[@philiptaylor7902]

@@stephenauty2402 The Wye, renowned for its paper and corn mills. There is one working preserved mill still working, Pan Mill.

[@stephenauty2402]

That’s a different river on the Hereford/ Welsh border Not a trib of the Thames The Thames is a very flat river , there’s very little drop anywhere on its entire course That’s why I asked

[@jcarey568]

Yaaaay!!!!! 😀 Thank you, Matt, for doing a small hydro video! I've been waiting for this for years! ❤

[@nathansmith7153]

It's worthless

[@johnp5250]

Imagine undoing the damage Dams made with these devices. Just a parallel series of small hydro where you need it.

[@major__kong]

But you can't parallel enough of them to make something like the output of Hoover Dam. They would be supplemental power not base power.

[@KnugLidi]

The dam creates the reservoir (reserve of water) to ensure 100% uptime. If you go without a reservoir (called a run of river setup) then your uptime shrinks making your output far,far less. You cannot replace hydroelectric dams with these devices. Small or micro hydro is all about utilizing the high head/small flow or low head/large flow opportunities that exist.

[@Withnail1969]

You're delusional if you think hydro dams can be replaced with this garbage.

[@elmurcis1]

Big dams are too valuable for grid in places that has option to have them. I live 40 km from 40 meter 850MW hydro dam (there are 2 more downstream main river with 12m/300MW and 18m/450 MW power ) and just from water flow rate in river I can tell price for power at moment (dry summer like 400, peak snow melt over 4000 some years, average around 650 m2/s). And they do work all year round no matter ice conditions (meter of ice over deep water storage doesn't matter that much vs meter over small one - might still work but with risk). Same time - for off-grid/remote areas in warmer climate they look decent option for sure.

[@Erik-pu4mj]

If only... But hey, at least they can help prevent further ecological damage! And better a supplemental power source than none.

[@JenniferPChung]

I love how you deliver your pop culture references. So discreet an unfazed lol. You "sang" half a verus of TLC. Loved it hahaha.

[@GoingtoHecq]

That first genius one with the ball, the setur, looks like an incredible fish squishier.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

It does seem like a cousin to a gyratory rock crusher.

[@Mitakskia]

its not a squisher, its a massager

[@Dungeon47]

3:55 You got me. Well played.

[@calvinpryor]

I'm like brooooooo did Cream Soda just bust out a TLC reference? 👽👽👽👽

[@BCKammen]

Wow, just wow on the TLC Reference... thanks for that I do think the small hydro power plants like these two would be good for rural areas, and maybe in cities as well if you think about ones like LA, where the LA river maybe a good place depending on the drop/head of the river for areas that solar, and wind can't cover, or it is cost prohibited to install them.

[@charlestaylor3195]

LA produces one billion gallons of wastewater a day, every single day. Need I say more.

[@slurve0h]

I'm convinced that Matt writes the puns first, then comes up with the content to fit.

[@Mezzy1992]

I can not believe you made an entire video on dams without mentioning Chinas Three Gorges dam and how its sheer size changed earths rotation, Hows that for consequences of going big. Love your videos, Gr. Mezz

[@frankkroondijk586]

that is a myth

[@Mezzy1992]

@@frankkroondijk586 “In 2005, NASA scientists calculated that the shift of water mass stored by the dams would increase the total length of the Earth's day by 0.06 microseconds and make the Earth slightly more round in the middle and flat on the poles.” -NASA Details Earthquake Effects on the Earth Jan. 10, 2005

[@Erik-pu4mj]

@@frankkroondijk586 Doesn't appear to be a myth; the effect is just tiny. Quick Wikipedia search: "In 2005, NASA scientists calculated that the shift of water mass stored by the dams would increase the total length of the Earth's day by 0.06 microseconds and make the Earth slightly more round in the middle and flat on the poles." NASA used this as an example to compare the "barely noticeable" effect that all earthquakes have on Earth's rotation.

[@jeppeskj3402]

The quality of the videos you produce is always amazing. Thanks for this introduction to small hydro... now I want a Turbulent turbine! :D

[@dreamingwolf8382]

"It's as tall as six christs stacked on top of one another ..." Man, Americans will use literally anything but the matric system!

[@pindapoy1596]

@dreamingwolf8382 Unfortunately the mentality that the US does it all better than anyone else is firmly anchored in the minds of people

[@mofbombay6290]

Nice view of the Edenville Michigan Dam that washed out

[@ColCurtis]

Hmm so a standard faucet can now flow 1971 gallons per minute. 985,890,099 gallons per minute / 500,000 standard faucets = 1971 gallons per minute. Looks like you are off by 3 orders of magnitude. Hopefully your other facts aren't off that far.

[@UndecidedMF]

Yep, we messed things up after we did the calculation. It ended up getting written incorrectly in the script as the word million instead of billion ... and we didn't catch it. 🤦 I've added a correction to the description & comments.

[@firestorm734]

Spoiler alert: most of the places in North America where dams have the potential to produce lots of power have already been dammed. The original purpose of the USGS was, in part, to identify these locations and assess their feasibility. The sad part is that many of these dams have either been removed over the years for environmental concerns, or have had their power-generation equipment removed. This is due in part to the complexity of a trend towards larger, more efficient power stations instead of the microgrid scale generators that require far more maintenance. Furthermore, since most of the power infrastructure was designed around centralized generation and it would be very difficult (read as expensive) to change to microgrid solutions. Which is a shame, since there are many places where medium sized hydro-power systems could totally be used to generate power... just not as efficiently as they need for them to be financially feasible. It's a weird situation, since hydroelectric power seems to be pretty unpopular these days despite the abundance of viable sites where it could be implemented.

[@thewatersavior]

Can I put a SETUR in my toilet?

[@notacep]

good idea

[@wolfscorogardens6098]

Good luck finding a sparky that wants to install it 😂😂

[@colonelfustercluck486]

if you have an industrial strength bladder.....

[@pindapoy1596]

@thewatersavior Sure but you need a pressure wash after you use the toilet and then the overall system efficiency goes down.

[@rbeclb]

Great job Matt. Been following you for years and you never disappoint.

[@jonathanravenhilllloyd2070]

EVERYTHING should now be measured in Christs.

[@bondvagabond42]

As a machinist, I feel I would get more use out of the millichrist.

[@harrisonsumner8568]

Hear hear 🎉

[@Dan-Simms]

I think these are a great idea, I'm a fan of hydro, it's how my power is produced. I could see a smaller system like that snail one would be so good around riverways, and very environmentally friendly so I'm all for them.

[@niklaskoskinen123]

Just a reminder, that at 14GW, the Itaipu dam produces more power than 1 million of the 13KW Turbulent installations. 1 million days is more than 2700 years.

[@oddball_the_blue]

I'd be fascinated with how some of these could be fitted in with old infrastructure. In this instance I'm talking canals - Yes during summer they're likely to have issues but for the other 50 weeks of the year they'd be fine in the UK - especially where there's plenty of locks with bypasses. Loads of spots for small hydropower to be introduced.

[@Grasshopper.80]

R.I.P. Aaliyah.

[@DavidRabinowitz1977]

When driving along 'S central valley I can see plenty of irrigation canals. I wonder if we can get two birds in one stone if we install those SHP generators on the canals, reducing the need for longer power lines

[@Slumbert]

Seems a better filter is needed. Hoover Dam has huge filterproblems.

[@johndoyle4723]

Thanks, I live in the UK on the site of a former water powered flour mill, the stream is still there, but culverted under my garden, I would love to re use the water power, but it is just too complicated and beaurocratic to consider. Water power beats wind power every time, but wind is everywhere and water is not.

[@AlexB-nw7jt]

The grid system is one of our biggest security threats. I hope it doesn't take a disaster for us to prioritize localized power generation

[@Xero1of1]

When you said 'water height is, well, fluid', that immediately made me think about ocean beaches and waves. If you were to compare the height of a cresting wave to a beach, most of the time, the wave is higher. Sometimes you get big waves... so... what if you built a structure on an unusable beach where the height of the collection is based on the average yearly height of the waves and then pipe the exhaust water to the beach to be released back into the ocean. So, you've got 2 meter waves (roughly 6'), you set up the collection at 5'. You'll collect water at the top of the wave, have it go through the system, and then pipe back to the beach where the water is lower. Forever renewable so long as there are waves in the ocean.

[@Steeeved]

We got a small hydro installation where I am just outside a local university, visible from a bridge going in to the town center region. It looks nice. I've always been saying for the longest time that these things could be dotted all over the place, even across the same river a few times (although you also have to consider the density of the land, slowly the river down could result in more water absorption, so ideally you'd do that higher up the river, and maybe even consider lining the ground to avoid some of that extra absorption) It boggled the mind why it wasn't a thing when we had been using waterwheels for so long. The same could even be done with wind to capture some of the lesser wind currents that are more present in every day life, just as an extra boost to the power grid. Yanking some of that extra wind energy out of the air could also make things a little more tolerable in the weather department, not to dissimilar to how trees function. Wind, however, is a little more complicated, but still very doable. As long as you prevent the thing from being ravaged by overloading from heavy wind currents, you'll be fine.

[@TecSanento]

It just happens to be that we have a running well in our property where water flows all year around and just to days ago I installed a little water Turbine there. It might not be much but a couple of kilowatt hours per day good make a difference

[@kittimcconnell2633]

Combine solar with a reservoir for a water turbine - pump water uphill during daylight, get electricity at night from the turbine

[@DreitTheDarkDragon]

You can also plan maintenance way easier on small dams - if you have plenty of them, nobody will notice that two or three are out of order for maintenance.

[@Erik-pu4mj]

Not to mention smaller, potentially identical parts. Much easier to replace one standard part a bunch of times than replace a huge dam turbine--can't just keep a bunch of those in a warehouse.

[@boxheadmr]

Loved the way you wove the TLC Waterfalls words into the video. Well done

[@cheyannei5983]

Oh hey, I've seen Turbulent before! The real advantage of their design/system is that it's extremely low maintenance. They had an install in Latin America iirc that had only been cleaned with a brush a couple times in 8 years, when the water goes low. I bet it's still going strong.

[@CitiesForTheFuture2030]

Thanks for highlighting the advantages of small-scale hydro energy - I've been watching this tech for a few years now. There's one place water will ALWAYS flow - inside high flow water pipes... conduit hydro. Every community or region should be doing a geo-physical asset analysis and applying whatever renewable energy tech that makes the most sense. If each community / region / state does this, grid resilience will be achieved - hopefully cost effectively too. It's estimated that around 80% of people will live in cities by 2050'ish so it makes sense that solutions to socio- economic challenges must come from cities (such as food & water security, affordable housing, energy, waste management, various mobility options, awa social services & support etc). In many parts of the world this means putting solar panels EVERYWHERE (on every rooftop, shading every street & car park, awa lining highways) supported by community energy storage. Other options might include mini & micro hydro, conduit hydro, on & offshore wind, geothermal, on shore wave power for coastal communities etc.

[@dshack4689]

Ohhhh nicely done... 3:53 TLC "Don't go chasing..." - how could I not hit like after that delivery? =D

[@Waldohasaskit210]

Are these systems available for the average residential property? How does it compare to small solar or wind powered systems in cost, complexity and supporting ecosystem? What kind of geological features does a steam/river need to support it?

[@AngBoire]

I actually lol'd at the waterfalls lyrics and truly appreciate the straight face. Great easter egg!

[@connormccarter9581]

I really like the idea of semi-decentralized utility infrastructure. Disaster tollerant, easier to transmit, small equipment to work on or repair, local jobs. There could be a lot of benefit from something like this. Thanks Matt!

[@jaysonmurray4211]

I would love to have one of those systems in the river behind my house. Even if I did hit the lottery and was able to get one I’m sure the power company would stop me from using it. Even though I own the land the power company owns the river and so many feet from its center. Just like a road. I don’t have any head pressure much but plenty of water so this design is what I need.

[@JasonHampel]

I'd be curious if smaller versions of this could be added to sailboats to generate power while under sail. Similar to how regen works on the props of the boat connected to the engines. Maybe something you could immerse in the water and drag behind the boat somehow?

[@77gravity]

Yes, but the drag would be huge, compared to a common wind turbine (which will also work when you are anchored). If there is wind to sail, then there is wind for power.

[@erroneum]

Theoretically for a diversion type hydroelectric plant, they could install flow controls across a portion of the river's width to help regulate power supply without impacting wildlife that much. They wouldn't be changing the flow rate of the river, just what fraction of it flows through the plant, ideally setting aside a certain fraction that it cannot take, thereby preventing it from actually stopping fish migration.

[@popandbob]

I like the idea of micro hydro. I've been wondering how I can implement one into my irrigation system. I have lots of head height and usually have some good flow plus it gets around a couple of the issues listed: No freezing as the irrigation only runs from may-Sept, and it has to be filtered to go through the drip irrigation anyway so no clogging! I'd only be small scale though, 400-600watts probably.

[@petrlonsky2332]

In 1902 were in Bohemia in middle Europe at least 8000 water mills. There is huge potential to rebuild them again this way. Thank you for this video 👍

[@jimw1615]

Several good examples of these small hydro systems from over 100 years ago can be found in the coastal California mountains and Sierra Nevada Range foothills. I have always believed they were a fantastic application for generating small-scale, local electric power.

[@serlibob]

As a small team that doing a university project on how to get to the point of %100 percent renewable energy usage on solomon islands, i find these turbines really useful ! I think i might add them to our project to generate power on small islands that has rivers

[@Baxxunderslash24]

I was wondering if you were going to mention Turbulent when I saw the video. I'm happy that you did.

[@DCJNewsMedia]

You are awesome Brother God bless you and your family

[@tealkerberus748]

If you put a farm dam on a hillside valley that is not a permanent stream, you're not going to affect fish movement at all. Run a micro-hydro between your dam and whatever permanent stream that hillside drains into, and you can have your hydro and let the fish swim in it too. Small farm dams are much easier to get right than big hydro river dams. You just need enough catchment and enough storage to get through a typical dry spell for that area, possibly backed up by rooftop solar for abnormally long droughts.

[@abeelvago]

13:08 it took them less than a day to install the turbine... on an already built enclousure . Always add up every part of a project, for clear understanding. Love this tech, especially the part were it can become its own grid without having to be near a mayor established electrical grid, that I think is its biggest pro

[@gaylanbishop1641]

You asked what we think about small hydro…I LOVE IT!! It’s a real winner.

[@TexRobNC]

One of my dreams is to own a piece of mountainous property with running water attached, and this is part of why. I've wanted this for as long as I can remember, like maybe 40 years, because I knew about sawmills, grain mills, etc.

[@maxheadrom3088]

Thanks for the multi language subtitles, Matt!!!

[@iemmons]

when i can get one for my backyard stream i'm sure i'll be more impressed

[@kalmah2112]

Loved the use of "don't go chasing waterfalls" lyrics :D

[@seanmcnally6658]

Combined with stored hydro, this technology opens out options for more arid areas like Australia. Great video.

[@LionRasky]

Interesting Vid. Would be interesting to dive deeper into the different turbine technologies, categorize the turbine types, quantify the existing market-shares, and elaborate on problems with conventional turbines. Then you can link what the different issues are, and what these companies do to address each

[@johnnydfred]

Yeah, I’m liking everything about this smaller, simpler system; providing power locally - where it is needed.

[@Noval01rd]

Learnt a lot new!! Thank you for this video!

[@LuckyJim5050]

Reducing consumption, the distance goods travel and personal debt could be our only solution so we will continue to destroy because we continually find new ways to use more and live longer.

[@zortesh]

these sound like a great solution, for rich people and farmers, few others will have the option to even own a section of a permanently running river/stream to install them.