Thursday, March 08, 2007

A mini waterwheel can light up your home

A number of Cleanergy members are ready to buy this. Distributors requests welcome !

A Scottish electrician, Ian Gilmartin, has come up with a new invention that could help reduce your energy bills significantly.

Gilmartin, 60, skillfully abetted by his friend Bob Catley, 58, both from Kendal, Cumbria have invented a mini waterwheel capable of supplying enough electricity to power a house for free. The apparatus is designed to work in small streams and rivers – ideal for more than 50,000 British homes.

The mini waterwheel produces one to two kilowatts of power and generates 24 kilowatt hours of sustainable green energy in a day, just a notch below the daily consumption of an average household – 28 kilowatt hours. It is the first off- the-shelf waterwheel that can generate a decent supply of electricity; even from water falls as little as 20cm.

Surprisingly, the driving force behind Gilmartin’s invention was not high energy bills. In fact, he has never lived in a house with electricity. But he does have a stream at the back of his house, the Beck Mickle. Owing to his creative prowess and with help from his friend Bob, he now hopes to see his prototype in the shops by the end of next year.

Gilmartin’s waterwheel will cost around £2,000 for full installation. Though this might seem rather overwhelming at the outset, the system will pay for itself within two years.

Gilmartin was noted as saying: “While we cannot say this provides free electricity, because of the initial cost of buying the machine, it is expected to pay for itself within two years and then greatly reduce the owner’s electricity bills after then.”

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