Year 1

I first became familiar with rain barrels during the summer of 2009. From an engineering standpoint, I was curious if the barrel’s design could be improved. A rain barrel has three basic components, including an overflow system, faucet system, and a downspout hook-up. Summer 2009 to Summer 2010 was my first year of work. The purpose of the first stage was to study to force of water and the electric current generated when adding a hydroelectric generator to a rain barrel. The power amount generated in my 757 liter rain barrel donated by Nine Mile Run Watershed Association was statistically significant, but I wanted to see if the rain barrel could generate a greater amount of power with some modifications.