Portable Electricity

Carry Power With You

by Deb Powers

Off grid energy production is a growing hot topic among many green-living folks, and this may be one of the niftiest little gadgets I've seen in a long time. Bourne Energy, whose tag line is "Energy for the Future", has just announced the latest addition to its line of integrative hydro-electric generators, the RiverStar BackPack Power Plant. Measuring just 3 feet long and weighing about 30 pounds, the BackPack Power Plant can generate up to 500W of continuous, high quality power anywhere there's a waterway with a decent flow. Imagine the implications.

The BackPack Power Plant is designed to be carried into remote areas and set up to generate power onsite. It can easily be assembled and dismantled so that it can be moved from one spot to another to take advantage of seasonal variations. Each BackPack Power Plant can deployed on its own, or they can be deployed in interconnected arrays to generate over 20KW of renewable energy.

Usually when I hear "hydroelectric power", I think of huge installations like the Hoover Dam. It's honestly never occured to me that hydroelectric could be so - dare I say it - cute. Cute it is - but there's nothing wimpy about its capabilities. A single BackPack generator can provide the power needed for a small camp. Set up in arrays, they can provide enough electricity to power a small village in a remote area, or supply the electricity needs for a traveling health clinic. Because it doesn't use any outside fuel, its operating costs are virtually nil. Bourne estimates that the BackPack energy unit will pay for itself in a year just in fuel savings.

Portable Hydro-electric power

Bourne designs portable micro-hydro power systems that provide off-grid power for camping, remote field work, emergency power generators, remote homes, ranches and the military. The company's larger systems can be arrayed across rivers and streams in ways that can seamlessly integrate with the natural environment. The units generate no heat, and have no emissions, which means that even the larger installations have virtually no impact on the environment.

You can learn more about the RiverStar BackPack Power Plant and Bourne's other portable electric generators at the Bourne Energy web site.