New Microhydro Book is THE Microhydro Book

This post is part of our participation in Blog Action Day 2010, which is on the topic of Water.

Microhydro is not the first thing you think of when you think about renewable energy. I am sure I can count on one hand the number of people who have used this word in communication with me. But microhydro could be a good energy option for many people and could even be “the most cost-effective renewable energy option” for some people.

A new book out, Serious Microhydro: Water Power Solutions from the Experts, is basically THE book to read if you want to know anything or everything about microhydro today.

Everything from how water flow is estimated to the costs of a microhydro project to renewable energy incentives to the best way to share power between houses to how an airlock can be cleared from a pipe to how you can use occasional surpluses of power to how to have a high standard of living using much less energy than the average American (not that that would be needed in all cases), this book covers all the bases.

No, I am not getting anything for speaking so highly of this book. But I think this is a cool renewable energy option and this is an amazing book for anyone who wants to learn more about microhydro.

The book in not just a source of general information on microhydro either. It is filled with case studies from a variety of different settings, and they are well-organized so you can easily find the ones that match up with the resources you have or are thinking about.

In fact, this is one thing I especially like about this book — its focus on real-world systems and experiences. I think this is especially important for this topic because there is such a broad range of microhydro options and applications, and it is better to see real-world examples and experiences than to try to generalize.

However, the book does also get into the history of microhydro and critical design elements. And it gets into future possibilities based on economic, political, and environmental changes. Interesting stuff.

The author, Scott Davis, is “an award-winning renewable energy project developer with decades of experience operating, installing, designing, selling and teaching about microhydro technology” and wrote two books on microhydro before this one. It shows in this book.

I haven’t completely finished reading the book yet, but since today is international Blog Action Day and it is on the topic of water, I thought this would be a good time to share my perspective on this new book with you Cleantechnica readers.

Again, the book, from the great publishing company New Society Publishers (probably my favorite), is available here: Serious Microhydro: Water Power Solutions from the Experts.