Tears are a higher form of power than raindrops. They can indicate joy, or solve intractable problems or eliminate traffic tickets.
How much power can we expect from rainfall?
11–20 of 110 posts
Re: How much power can we expect from rainfall?
#12I looked at this area a few decades ago and two approaches stood out as potential, though not stand out. 1) Roofs already collect a large surface area and funnel into a single point via roof guttering - so tapping the flow from the gutter run off would enable a viable volume of water turn a motor in the drain pipe as it descended and generate power. 2) Piezo electric generating from the roof, though was looking at a…
>Figured that tapping the drainage flow of water from a whole area combined would work better and for that need a organised drainage system all connected and yes you do get those. If I'm not mistaken, the technical term for these broad-area drainage systems is "river"
I think you’re on to something there. What if we made on very large, and collected lots of water at a central point and could control how much of it we use for electricity? It’s a damn good idea.
Re: How much power can we expect from rainfall?
#13I looked at this area a few decades ago and two approaches stood out as potential, though not stand out. 1) Roofs already collect a large surface area and funnel into a single point via roof guttering - so tapping the flow from the gutter run off would enable a viable volume of water turn a motor in the drain pipe as it descended and generate power. 2) Piezo electric generating from the roof, though was looking at a…
A roof is about 200 m^2 (more or less), so at 10 mw/m^2, you could generate a whopping 2 watts. While it's raining. California gets 563 millimeters of rain a year, so you might end up generating an entire 100 watts. For the year.
Re: How much power can we expect from rainfall?
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Figured that tapping the drainage flow of water from a whole area combined would work better and for that need a organised drainage system all connected and yes you do get those. If I'm not mistaken, the technical term for these broad-area drainage systems is "river"
I think you’re on to something there. What if we made on very large, and collected lots of water at a central point and could control how much of it we use for electricity? It’s a damn good idea.
It will never work! The collection structures will fail left and right, the surrounding soil will be saturated and cause mudslides, you'll have to evict a bunch of people and buy their land, and besides, what about the downstream farmers? They don't give a dam!
Re: How much power can we expect from rainfall?
#15I looked at this area a few decades ago and two approaches stood out as potential, though not stand out. 1) Roofs already collect a large surface area and funnel into a single point via roof guttering - so tapping the flow from the gutter run off would enable a viable volume of water turn a motor in the drain pipe as it descended and generate power. 2) Piezo electric generating from the roof, though was looking at a…
A roof is about 200 m^2 (more or less), so at 10 mw/m^2, you could generate a whopping 2 watts. While it's raining. California gets 563 millimeters of rain a year, so you might end up generating an entire 100 watts. For the year.
A watt is a unit of power, not energy —- it represents the rate at which energy is produced (joules per second), not the total amount of energy produced. I’m not sure how you came up with the number 100, but the units for that number should be energy (such as joules or watt-hours).
Re: How much power can we expect from rainfall?
#16I'm surprised that tidal energy is not yet a big player.
The amount of potential energy is massive, and it's very reliable, unless the moon falls of its orbit.
Re: How much power can we expect from rainfall?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you’re on to something there. What if we made on very large, and collected lots of water at a central point and could control how much of it we use for electricity? It’s a damn good idea.
It will never work! The collection structures will fail left and right, the surrounding soil will be saturated and cause mudslides, you'll have to evict a bunch of people and buy their land, and besides, what about the downstream farmers? They don't give a dam!
How will salmon get back up into the gutters to spawn?
Re: How much power can we expect from rainfall?
#18I absolutely love the gist of the article: interpreting quantitative research is something most of us are fundamentally illiterate on.
That's definitely how I feel about it at least. Others might feel differently.
That said, how does one actual build skills in this area. It feels like the author is able to do this here because it's a research paper in an area they have knowledge in.
How does one build up a general ability to critically evaluate numbers in a case like this? Does one have to know how to go look up formulas?
I recall an article from some time ago where authors released a paper about chocolate and health benefits or something similar but they intentionally gamed the numbers to find something that correlated. The press ate it up before the authors revealed the truth.
How does one go about becoming more literate in evaluating those kinds of papers and conclusions?
I'm willing to put in the time to read carefully and calculate. I just wish I knew what skills to acquire.
Re: How much power can we expect from rainfall?
#19I absolutely love the gist of the article: interpreting quantitative research is something most of us are fundamentally illiterate on. That's definitely how I feel about it at least. Others might feel differently. That said, how does one actual build skills in this area. It feels like the author is able to do this here because it's a research paper in an area they have knowledge in. How does one build up a general ab…
To evaluate stuff like this, you just need basic physics knowledge (enough to do dimensional analysis with) and estimation skills. One fun read along these lines is "The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering".
For stuff like the bad social science you mentioned, often you can catch it if you know basic statistics along with the common tricks people use to p-hack. See, for example, "The garden of forking paths" by Gelman.
Even if the statistical analysis is not given explicitly, or the issue is more subtle, for social science that touches on everyday life, you can usually tell if it'll hold up just with common sense. Try yourself using this quiz: https://80000hours.org/psychology-replication-quiz/
Re: How much power can we expect from rainfall?
#20I looked at this area a few decades ago and two approaches stood out as potential, though not stand out. 1) Roofs already collect a large surface area and funnel into a single point via roof guttering - so tapping the flow from the gutter run off would enable a viable volume of water turn a motor in the drain pipe as it descended and generate power. 2) Piezo electric generating from the roof, though was looking at a…
The first question one should ask is whether one can reasonably expect to make back the energy embodied in the generator. For example, strapping a generator to a stationary bicycle is unlikely to reach this point. Small scale wind turbines have a similar problem [1].
I really doubt that generators in individual houses drain pipes would be viable.