Generate Electricity Using Water Drops

I just came across to this article.

'Here's something residents of cloudy northern Europe should appreciate: a way of using rain to generate power.'

It is really fascinating in the sense that we can still find another source to produce (or at least convert) energy. This is essentially needed if we can't find another planet to exploit in like 50 years.!

Read more here: http://environment.newscientist.com/articl...er-devices.html

Thanx

thank you.....

it was useful.

Well it certainly rains enough in the UK to make it viable I suppose it all comes down to cost and space. As the article mentions, solar and photovoltaic cells are currently harvesting more energy per square metre than the raindrop device would. However, combining the two, if possible, would be great. That way a lot of energy could be collected during the (brief) sunny periods, and a steady trickle supplied during rainfall. The water could also obviously be collected in a water butt, as many people already do. It would also effectively reduce the cost of solar panels, as they would be collecting more energy and therefore saving more money on electricity bills every year.

However, if it is too expensive or ugly then people will not use it, simple as that.

Cool in PUne where i live there is lot of rain and maybe we can use it overcome the loadsheding in out state.

Please let me know the tech details.

i think i can improve on the concept. since raindrops are just water particles which are earthbound following the laws of gravitational pull (raindrops always go down, not up ), i think studies on this technology should focus on a way to simulate raindrops, so even with the absence of natural rain, the technology can still function.

i'm thinking that since water is not a problem to procure, and gravity is all-present which is in force anywhere in the world, a device or contraption can be constructed to simulate rain and raindrops. with the piezoelectric materials, and the simulated raindrops, electrical power can be generated all year round. and since the simulated raindrops need not go to "waste" (it can still be caught in a basin of sorts and not seeped by trees and go underground as in nature), water can be "recycled" to repeat the cycle of simulated raindrops again. albeit a small fraction of power actually generated in the first place will be used to move still water to process it into simulated raindrops in a continuous cycle, i believe it has the potential for a perpetual motion machine! perpetual motion = perpetual power! (just a wishful thinking of course lolz)

if only man can harness the forces of gravity as a power source in itself, then it will just be a better world for mankind.

I've seen a lot of articles and stuff about perpetual motion machines. I thought a bunch of people had already proved that it was impossible, no matter what way you try, because the force needed to keep the machine going would always be more than the energy provided by it.

But anyways, capturing power from rain would be a good idea in some places. But when ever a drought comes around, it would just make it seem a lot worse. If only they could find an energy source that's available everywhere all the time...