Re: Hydro Electric Power As a Viable Alternative?

Hi!

I was working with my daughter (8 years old) in building a generator, that would light up at least a bulb, in showing we could make electricity with water in the household.  We wanted to use the engineering principles of hydroelectric power plants.  After two weeks of testing we came up with a model that would feed on running water.  Of course, the basic observations expressed frustration since keeping running water from the faucet in to the turbine would turn out as a non cost effective way of creating electricity.  Then, my daughter reacted.  What if we could make a reservoir of water, like hydroelectric plants do? 

In the conclusions, we suggested the use of rain as water source.  To make it short the rain would be captured in the house roof.  This storage would have a system that would move the water inside a draining tube (a running stream) captured by a turbine.  The turbine of the generator would make the rotor spin thus creating electricity to power a home.  If I am not mistaken roof reservoirs already exist, they are used to spray plants, discharge toilets and for car wash.