The method has little environmental impact and uses existing infrastructure. So why isn't it more popular?

Portland, Oregon—known to some as "Bridge City"—has an intimate relationship with the water that flows beneath it. During hot summer months, residents cool off by floating down the Willamette River. Its iconic bronze drinking fountains (also known as Benson Bubblers) have been gushing with cool, clean water during daylight hours since 1912. And most recently, LucidEnergy—a Portland-based startup that launched in 2007—has discovered a way to use the city's drinking water to generate electricity without any negative environmental impacts.

Since 2015, the city of Portland has been partnering with LucidEnergy to install electricity-generating turbines in its gravity-fed water pipes. A new video produced by the Van Alen Institute, in collaboration with