floating in the city

cycle powered narrowboat shows way forward

Electric boats get a 25% discount for the annual British Waterways Cruising License if the boat has an electric motor as its sole means of propulsion. Presumably the same applies to cycle powered narrowboats? This video of how to cycle up a canal (above) is by Rinky Dink inventors of an amazing alternative energy powered mobile bicycle sound system. Hopefully no one of any influence will have a brain wave and suggest canal cycle lanes.

coming soon: electric power from canals

An "in-stream hydrokinetic turbine" for harvesting electric power from canals, irrigation networks, wastewater systems and the streams in and around industrial sites could be available by 2011. "Think of it as the love child between a steamboat paddle wheel and a small hydroelectric dam" reports Greentechmedia.

Developed by Hydrovolts, the device will cost about £300, and can be placed in relatively slow moving water courses. A six-foot by four-foot turbine in an irrigation canal flowing at two meters a second might produce 1.5 kilowatts. The same turbine in a four-meter-per-second stream might produce 6 kilowatts to 8 kilowatts.

Above: Lab test at Washington University.