Title: Sustainable rural energy: traditional water wheels in Padang (PWW), Indonesia

Authors: G.A. Ibrahim, C.H. Che Haron, C.H. Azhari

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia. ' Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia. ' Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract: The traditional water wheel with simple construction coupled with a basic concept of technology can be utilised as a renewable rural energy system. Water wheel is constructed from hardwood material with a diameter of 300 cm and width of 40 cm. It is built on a river using water flow to generate the movement of the wheel. The water wheel application in the area showed that it is suitable to be utilised to elevate and distribute water to rice fields located at a higher level than the water level of the river. The water wheel capacity is about 100-120 litres/min. It could continuously irrigate ± 5 ha. of the rice fields. One of the advantages of this water wheel is to function as a green technology promising no negative effect on the environment and a big economic impact on the rural economy, increasing the productivity of the rice fields.

Keywords: traditional water wheels; sustainable energy; economic impact; Indonesia; rural energy; renewable energy; productivity; rice fields.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRET.2011.037979

International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology, 2011 Vol.2 No.1, pp.23 - 31

Published online: 21 Feb 2015 *

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