Alternative Energy (Was Re: [Traveller_TNE] Low Tech Stuff)

You would think that the lack of fossil fuels would seriously hinder industrial development. Or
maybe humanity is just very lazy, in a reach for the low hanging fruit sort of way. It may be
argued by future historians that the exploitation of fossil fuels actually retarded the
development of human technology in some very perverse ways. Consider these alternatives, some of
whom actually predate the infernal combustion engine:

1. Tidal power might be utilisable at this low of a tech level.

http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/tidal_power.htm

A system of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) power might also be available:

http://www.nrel.gov/otec/what.html

2. Alcohol can be derived from more than food sources. Cellulosic ethanol is the next wave of
biofuels here in the USA, being derived from sources such as rice straw (leftover from rice
harvesting) or switchgrass. And BP and Dupont are apparently looking beyond ethanol (which has
only 70% of the thermal output as octane) towards butanol (4 carbon alcohol as opposed to the two
carbon ethanol) which has higher thermal output and is easier to work with existing internal
combustion engines.

3. Another source of fuel are early fuel cells:

http://www.fuelcellstore.com/information/fuel_cell_history.html

In this case eletrolysis of H2O will be highly inefficient, but you have plenty of animal dung,
which can be used for a process called Anaerobic Digester:

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=28814

4. Algae! Its not just that green guck in your swimming pool anymore:

http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/pdf/algae_salton_sea.pdf

5. The Common Cold and an Uncommon Battery

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2153668/viruses-assemble-ultra-small

6. How about solar power without the use of those unattainable photovoltaic cells? You just need
some high temperature mirrors and a lot of salt:

http://www.solarpaces.org/solar_tower.pdf

7. How about a nice, hot bath Iceland-style:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_Iceland

8. Don't have fossil fuels for aviation or rocketry? That didn't stop the Germans...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-Stoff

9. Another wacky German invention with great potential:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/12/991215072333.htm
http://www.americanenergyindependence.com/peroxide.html

--- Gerry Harris <> wrote:

> Thanks for all y'all's help with the black powder rockets. I'm working on a low tech (TL 3-5)
> world with no access to fossil fuels -- think a world terraformed in the last few tens of
> thousands of years. I've been trying to work out the infrastructure for such a world, and power
> production is a biggie. Wind and water power are good for the cities, but portable power
> sources are a problem.
>
> At first, I was stuck with two fuel sources from FF&S: alcohol and wood. I managed to work out
> the stats for "wood gas" when I stumbled across doing research on steel:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas
>
> Mass and price would be the same as for hydrocarbon distillates, but the power output would be
> divided by eight. Not a particularly attractive technology, and it doesn't solve the
> deforestation problem, which on our world was fixed by the increasing use of coal. Alcohol, of
> course, eats into the food supply so it's not going to be super popular, either, although it
> would be used to a greater or lesser extent.
>
> Peat is available, but I cannot find stats on its energy density.
>
> On the plus side, as near as I can tell, steel should be available as it has a low carbon
> content, and that could be supplied by charcoal.
>
> If any of y'all have any ideas for fuels, limitations on technology because of the lack of
> fossil fuels, or clever workarounds for some of those limitations, I would appreciate hearing
> your ideas.
>
>
> Gerry Harris
>
> http://www.aethertraveller.com
>
> "Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war"
> — Antony, "Julius Caesar," Act 3, Scene 1
>
>
>