COULD this quirky Isle of Wight invention solve the world's energy crisis?
Daniel Roberts — curator of the pioneering Isle of Wight Poo Museum — turned his hand to a different, but equally innovative project during the Covid-19 lockdown; one which centres on steam-powered electricity.
And in so doing, he reckons he may have cracked the world's energy crisis — or at least he hopes he has.
The revelation came during the first Covid-19 lockdown, when Daniel decided to answer the nagging question in his head: Could you make a steam engine which can run at less than boiling point?
"There's no shortage of energy — we're surrounded by it — but what's really difficult is turning it into electricity," said Daniel.
"The invention is a steam turbine sealed in a near vacuum.
"The reason for the vacuum is that water boils at a much lower temperature when pressure is reduced.
"That means, instead of having to burn gas, oil or coal to generate electricity, you can use a source of heat at a much lower temperature to produce steam and drive a turbine to produce electricity.
"Instead of heating water to hundreds of degrees Celcius, like conventional power stations do, you instead generate electricity from heat stored between 50 and 90 degrees Celcius — too hot for a bath, but not hot enough for a cup of tea.
"Renewables, like solar and wind, could be used to generate this heat, which would be stored in large tanks of water, or simply in the ground itself.
"That stored heat could then be used to generate electricity using the low temperature turbine whenever it is needed."
Daniel made his prototype out of odds and ends, and while it works as designed, and the principle is sound, a question mark hangs over whether it is a practical solution for providing electricity on a much larger scale.
"It may be that the idea isn't new," conceded Daniel.
"Perhaps it has been tried, tested and rejected before, but that's not to say it isn't workable now.
"While the idea may have been there, the incentive to use it might not have been.
"I'm no trained scientist, or engineer, and there was a bit of hubris to my thinking: why don't I just solve the energy crisis?
"But at the same time, I did kind of feel like I had a bit of a responsibility to at least try it out."
Could Daniel's low pressure generator be the solution?
He's keen to hear from County Press readers.
You can reach him by emailing poo.museum@gmail.com
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