Okay, hear me out, I was just looking at pictures of beavers and thought to myself, what if someone used a beaver dam for hydropower? I mean my first thought is of course that wouldn't work...unless? I mean I know nothing about dam construction or hydropower, so I can't actually disprove this to myself. Why wouldn't this work? Or could it?
The power available from a hydropower dam is P = 9.81𝑞ℎ𝜂 where P is the power in kilowatts, q is the flow rate in cubic meters per second, h is the head height in meters, and η is the efficiency factor. This paper claims that beaver dams have a head height from 0.3m-5m with most below 1.5m and a width up to 46m but usually 10m or less and mentions that beaver dams can withstand a flow rate of 1.34m^3/s per meter width for a dam with a height of 1.4m. So if we estimate a 75% efficiency and go with 1.34m^3/s per meter width, 10m width and 1.4m head that gives us:
P = 9.81 * 13.4 m^3/s * 1.4m * 0.75
for a power of 138kW.
Less than what? For comparison, the average Amerikkkan home uses about 1.2kW.
I did not fully absorb your comment but I reread it and understand it now
Can you pet and or smooch the beaver for a job well done?
beavers dam up ravines, i dont think there'd be much potential energy there to capture.
I don't know what this means
edit: are you saying hydropower dams need to be built on a waterfall or something?
Not necessarily that it needs to be on a waterfall or anything like that since usually the thing to do is make an artificial lake so the dam itself acts as the waterfall. What I mean is the volume of water is probably too low to be worth doing.
Beaver dams are where beavers keep their food and children, where would you put the turbines?
Beavers live in the lodge not the dam but still I don't think a beaver dam is gonna hold up a big ass turbine
I have no idea how beaver dams work, this was pretty much just a shower thought. I assume though the beavers are living in dry areas and the turbines would go in the water where the beavers are not.
Not sure if this is what you're talking about, but small-scale hydropower is definitely a thing and can be done fairly cheaply: https://youtu.be/1KyL1-0A0Gw
You're not going to generate enough electricity from a small damn to provide power to anything for more than a very small group of people though.
If society collapses and we haven't achieved communism I guess my plan is going out to the forest and living among the beavers
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Usually beaver dams are designed to disperse water more broadly into a landscape, turning a stream into a wetland. Humans often do the opposite, digging a trench to turn a marsh or swamp into a stream, and then sometimes damming that stream into a lake or reservoir.
