Water Towers are an impressive feet of engineering, allowing municipalities and buildings to maintain relatively constant water pressure throughout the day. Awesome concept, what I wonder is why aren't these water towers doing more, there is plenty of available surface area that the water tower provides for green energy production. Additionally the tower's height already provides much of the altitude gain that a wind turbine would need to ensure maximum energy production. For municipal applications I could see concerns about liability or aesthetics, but for smaller use cases a water tower working in tandem with renewable energy sources would make a huge difference.
Imagine a traditional water tower 30-45 feet tall, providing water pressure for an off-grid house. Rain water is collected in lower tanks, and when the home's energy production exceeds use, water is pumped up to be stored for later use.
A more complicated use solution would integrate a range of technologies, solar panels, wind-turbines, and that really cool transparent blackbody material. The solar panels would be on the side of the tower, the rational for the solar panels being on the side of the tower are two fold, the added height reduces the potential for the panels falling into shadows, and the mass of water behind the solar panels would minimize overall thermal fluctuation. On the backside of the tower would be a passive radiator solution, intended to avoid direct exposure to sunlight, hopefully maximizing the passive cooling ability. On top of the tower would be the wind turbine(s), while this does add another element that requires maintenance, the increased reliability of power production for an offgrid solution should make it appealing.
10/11/2015 (I'm taking a break from finishing this article as it is 1 AM and I should try getting some sleep
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