Environmental and economic engineering analyses for an urban small hydropower system

Abstract

This paper presents an environmental and economic assessment of a newly conceptualised urban small hydropower system (USHS), which is potentially one of the important concepts in urban regeneration development. The technique used in the system is called ‘vortexanda’, a hybrid of ‘Coandă’ and ‘vortex’. The vortexanda technique was previously demonstrated to enable supply from a clean water source, which is vital for the successful operation of the newly proposed small hydropower system. The combined effects of the Coandă and vortex techniques will be a significant contribution to the development of the USHS due to its capability of particle removal and optimisation of flow water for energy generation. Environmental analyses, conducted by using material flow analysis, were performed to identify environmental impacts of the system through evaluation of Sankey diagram indices. Meanwhile, four imperative analyses were completed to study the economic viability of the USHS. Findings from these assessments clearly demonstrate that the implementation of the newly proposed urban storm water hydropower may be both financially feasible and environmentally sustainable.