A groundbreaking invention made from surplus yoghurt pot plastic is poised to revolutionise green energy by taking power from shallow rivers and streams.
Unlike any other water system for generating electricity, the experimental hydro concept is capable of being used at a depth of only 20 cm and has been developed by a Burneside electrician.
Ian Gilmartin has been given a £15,000 boost from the Lake District National Park Authority's Sustainable Development Fund to help take forward a scheme which is capable of being used in up to 100,000 sites across the country.
Already patented, the Beck Mickle Hydro project is currently being worked up to production stage by Lancaster University. As well as generating power, Mr Gilmartin's device can also be used for air conditioning and providing drinking water.
A proto-type turbine is to be installed in a stream at St. Catherine's in Windermere, where the county's first public building made of straw bales is being built.
The National Trust's new education centre will be an ideal place, not just to produce "on stream" electricity, but also to demonstrate the benefits of green power, according to Mr Gilmartin, who has been working on his creation for seven years.
"We could be looking at significant changes to power production," he said. "We want to generate energy from water between 20cm and two metres deep. No one else has attempted anything like this in such shallow water.
"The idea is to build a machine that will eventually retail for £1,000 which can make one kilowatt of electricity - enough to power a house."
Benefits are potentially far-reaching. It is estimated there could be as many as 100,000 suitable sites nationwide where new sources of water energy could be used, creating around five megawatts. This would power either a small town, or large hospital.
Sustainable development assistant for the LDNPA Michaela Blackburn said the project was an excellent example of the fund's aims to support schemes that brought economic, social and environmental benefits to the National Park.
Cash windfalls totalling over £600,000 have been handed out to Lake District communities, since the Sustainable Development Fund was launched in 2002.