Rain Power?

[flwyd]

The other day in the shower I was thinking about how most of our forms of energy are essentially either solar radiation (possibly assisted by gravity), tectonic forces, or stored results of these processes.

Solar energy comes from solar radiation, of course
Wind energy comes from solar radiation, causing motion of air (and helped by past tectonic activity to focus the flow)
Hydroelectric power comes from solar radiation evaporating water, wind depositing it elsewhere, and gravity pulling it towards a generating station (with past tectonic activity providing a narrow channel)
Geothermal energy comes from tectonic processes, bringing energy up from Earth's hot interior
Biofuels like ethanol and wood come from solar radiation helping plants grow
Coal comes from plants that grew thanks to solar radiation, then got concentrated thanks to tectonic forces
Petroleum comes from plants that grew thanks to solar radiation, then got concentrated thanks to different tectonic forces
Natural gas comes from plants that grew thanks to solar radiation, then got concentrated thanks to more different tectonic forces (consummate forces!)
Tidal power is an outlier, depending entirely on gravity (and, I suppose, tectonic forces from long ago)
Nuclear power doesn't fit this model, and derives from the atomic strong force

So, I thought to myself, could you harness the power of solar radiation plus gravity by intercepting falling rain or snow? Like a turbine that gets turned by sufficient raindrops? Or a fulcrum which raises one side when the other side gets covered in snow, creating potential energy which can be converted?

I was thinking this could be deployed in places that get a lot of rain like Mount Wai‘ale‘ale, Mawsynram, or López de Micay or a lot of heavy snow like Sapporo or Syracuse.

I wonder if the problem with this idea is the wide coverage area needed to get a reasonable amount of power. A hydroelectric dam gets to use time-delayed rain from a whole region, but misses out on the cloud-to-ground potential energy.

Comments

[willow_red]

If you want to be pedantic, you could say that nuclear power is also the stored result of solar radiation and gravity, since those elements were formed in ancient supernovas.

As for generating energy from precipitation, my thought would be to use piezoelectrics. Not long ago, I heard about a demonstration project that used the power generated by people’s footsteps to run signs and lights along the path. Snow might not work for this (unless enough weight accumulated?), but it might finally create a positive effect from hail. Assuming the panel is strong enough to withstand falling hailstones of whatever size. Just my $0.02.

[flwyd]

Ooh, I like the idea of footsteps illuminating the path ahead.

My thought for snow was to treat it as a weight to raise a fulcrum or something. This would move up really slowly, and then move down slowly as the snow melts. But if you can capture that slow trickle of kinetic energy, maybe it's useful. Or if the object at the other end of the fulcrum is moved off, it can quickly create energy through gravity.