CARE Electric: Hydropower Without Dams

[DeSwiss]

CARE Electric: Hydropower Without Dams
Lifelong inventor Johann Hoffmann has devised a way to harness river power to
generate electricity without building expensive, environmentally destructive dams

BusinessWeek
By Jennifer L. Schenker
Special Report December 7, 2009, 6:21PM EST



Johann Hoffmann started patenting inventions to protect the environment while still a young boy in his native Austria. His first—created when he was just 14—was a buoy system to contain oil spills in the ocean, a system that's still being used today. Hoffman's work eventually led him to Brazil, where among other things, he developed a method to clean up mercury contamination from gold mining in the Amazon River.

Now 61, the lifelong inventor is today working not only on keeping waterways clean but also on exploiting their enormous energy. The goal: to bring clean electricity to areas with little or no access to power. Hoffmann and his partners at CARE Electric Energia, based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, have designed a turbine system that generates electricity from the natural flow of a river—without needing to build a dam.

The system purports to be more efficient than traditional hydroelectric systems while at the same time being kinder to the environment. "It is not just a technological advance that has been achieved," says Hoffmann, "but a way of providing greater socioeconomic development for poor communities in developing countries and increasing clean energy."

CARE Electric Energia is one of 26 companies named on Dec. 3 by the World Economic Forum as 2010 Tech Pioneers offering new technologies or business models that could advance the global economy and have a positive impact on peoples' lives.

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DeSwiss


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[Dover]

1. Wow...that's a major development!

So many improvements with this system, but especially like that rivers continue to flow as they naturally would, including fish and other aquatic creatures.


Now if only someone would make some major breakthroughs in micro-hydro that can take full advantage of small and lower flow situations (even be installed
within building pipes).

Thanks for posting!

[DeSwiss]

2. I agree it's a major development.....

...and the only obstacle it would face here in America, is the construction industry's bribes campaign contributions from their lobbies. I mean what'll we do with all that concrete we have leftover? Not to mention the lack of displacement of people and wildlife and the lawsuits that would engender. So it is clear that no one is thinking of the lawyers in all this.


- Such a marvelous idea is clearly foreign to us. Oh. Yeah. That's right. It is a foreign Idea. A great foreign idea. That's enough to kill it all by itself.

[StevieM]

3. This is terrific! I also like the vortex hydropower concept. I think hydro is going to be a huge

part of the solution to reforming our energy economy, even if right now there is more focus on wind, solar, nuclear, etc.

Steve