Micro Hydroelectric Power Generation?

Question

I have 2 questions.

1. How much energy does the average American home use? I see all different kinds of figures. Is there any definitive source?

Also, could you give a figure in different quantities, such as watts, kilowatt-hours, killowatt-hours per month, etc.

2. Are there any reliable charts available that will help me get a rough estimate of the energy potential of a micro-hydro site?

Either through head and flow, or head and flow plus specific turbine.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Average US home uses almost exactly 1000 watts of power. I have seen this from several sources, but never broken down by area.

1000 watts is 1 kW, or (24*30)  720 kw-hrs per month or 8600 kw-hrs per year

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Answer 2

I Avg home uses 4.2 megawatt electricity!

Answer 3

Some simple calculations needed to work out the needed hydraulic site necessary.

We use about 1500 KW-hrs per month for our average size house in Southern Ontario.

1 Kilowatt hour requires approximately 2.6 Million foot pounds of energy. This equates to approximately 1 foot pound per second hydraulic power.

Assuming 60% efficiency, one would need 1.5 foot pounds per second of water to supply sufficient energy to power an average house. Since a gallon of water weighs approximately 8 pounds you would require .2 foot gallons of water per second.

With a small dam of 5 feet of head the available stream flow would have to be 6 gallons per minute of flow.

Therefore theoretically a dam of 5 feet high on a stream flow of 6 gallons per minute would supply a normal house with the required electricity. Allowing for peaks in demand, I would look for a safety margin of 2 at least. Therefore the stream would be required to supply 12-15 gallons per minute at low flow.

The capital costs for such a project can be quite high but the peace of mind and self satisfaction would be immeasurable.

Good Luck.