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Sir Regulus Lyonhart Crew
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 Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 9:59 pm
Believe me, though I have a penchant for steampunk, nothing yet has convinced me that steam is the ideal power source. There are many reasons it is not.
It is inefficient (you need a boiler to power anything), it creates a whole mess of pollution (burning coal to heat the boiler), and it's quite dangerous (steam burns and explosions!).
While I know this probably would excite you all, it still doesn't change the fact that no matter how cool things from the steam age were, we should not revert back to steam as our main power source.
I think... we should turn to fuel cells! biggrin The emission for fuel cells is water vapor, ex. kinda like steam but not superheated. It's clean, and eco-friendly. And hydrogen is cheaper and more abundant than coal or oil. =3
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:18 pm
Your comment on coal got me thinking.
I actually read a very interesting essay the other day, detailing advances in technology and society being roughly equivalent to the advances made in discovering new fuel sources. The ominous implication of the article was that we have, essentially, reached the apex of civilzation, as our technology relies upon gasoline, and with it in rapid decline, our convenience is going to go the way of the Dodo.
With no new convenient fossil fuels raising themselves out of the caverns or piscine depths, we may be severely halted in our progress, as a society.
Naturally, we must restrain ourselves. Not only in consumption of what little is left, but also in celebration over what is, hopefully, the end of most television programming. However, saying that steam is a bad power source may be misleading. It's not the steam itself that's providing anything but pressure.
Anyway, I fear I'm rambling. I enjoy steampunk for the aesthetics, not the efficiency. It makes engineering into something above the commonplace - the dangers and unique aspects of it's engineering lend itself to understanding something strictly unnecessary to most, to turn developing the much-mentioned Steam Powered Pencil Sharpener into an act of talent, forthought, and whimsy.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:17 am
lol though hydrogen isnt exactly safe either.....its a very unstable element. I, for one, would stay away from anything hydrogen powered xp
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:26 am
Actually we've got new power sources coming up.
Believe it or not, cold fusion IS in testing and actually looks very promising, though the US science offices stubbornly refuse to publish anything about it due to hot fusion scientists feeling butthurt about the fact that their million dollar budgets have only brought them so far in theory and little work while cold fusion was, for the most part, tested on miniscule budgets. They claim it's fools gold, yadda yadda.
It's the whole "Gasoline companies choke new car developments to not lose priority" story all over again, but with science fields.
Edit:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=941741942363748600
Also, it would seem we've accidentally come across another one : A man trying to desalinate salt water with radio waves actually found a new power source in the process.
Just Google for "Salt Water as power" and you'll get a ton of articles on it and initial testing.
Edit :
- http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=979255449&channel=49798904
- http://www.glumbert.com/media/saltwater
Truth be told, we've got TONS of fantastic ways to get power.
Problem is, we're not going through with applying all of them, and gas companies ARE paying to have advances choked in an effort to keep the monopoly on car power.
Sad truth, but money comes before better cleaner power sources apparently.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:43 am
DoomNeko Actually we've got new power sources coming up.
Believe it or not, cold fusion IS in testing and actually looks very promising, though the US science offices stubbornly refuse to publish anything about it due to hot fusion scientists feeling butthurt about the fact that their million dollar budgets have only brought them so far in theory and little work while cold fusion was, for the most part, tested on miniscule budgets. They claim it's fools gold, yadda yadda.
Actually, it might be interesting to here that scientists have actually acheived hot fusion in the experimental stage. And it is fabulous. It takes place in giant metal donuts for crying out loud! And is almost entirely self-sufficient. All that need be added is water to keep the fuel going and you get insane amounts of power. It is also very safe as as soon as any of the reactants touches the sides of the donut it cools so quickly that the whole process stops and before any damage. It hoep I remembered the specifics right in that description mind...
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:01 am
Imber Actually, it might be interesting to here that scientists have actually acheived hot fusion in the experimental stage. And it is fabulous. It takes place in giant metal donuts for crying out loud! And is almost entirely self-sufficient. All that need be added is water to keep the fuel going and you get insane amounts of power. It is also very safe as as soon as any of the reactants touches the sides of the donut it cools so quickly that the whole process stops and before any damage. It hope I remembered the specifics right in that description mind...
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Sir Regulus Lyonhart Crew
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:22 am
We're getting to the point that all the energy sources that are being discovered can lead to enormous amounts of energy with very little input. If it's like Saturnine's essay said, then that would mean we would be on the verge of a new technological era.
However the problem is, all these things, though being developed, are always being kept away from the public eye, or kept from being utilized by the stupidity of the bureaucracy and powerful gasoline companies.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:04 pm
KumaBlind We're getting to the point that all the energy sources that are being discovered can lead to enormous amounts of energy with very little input. If it's like Saturnine's essay said, then that would mean we would be on the verge of a new technological era. However the problem is, all these things, though being developed, are always being kept away from the public eye, or kept from being utilized by the stupidity of the bureaucracy and powerful gasoline companies. One cannot help but remember the lost inventions of the patron saint of Steampunk, Mr. Nikola Tesla. And how they were taken away by, who was it, Westinghouse or the CIA or somesuch, and likely moulder in a crate somewhere. Le sigh.
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:59 am
The modern world runs on a great deal of steam power. A nuclear power plant is nothing more than a huge fancy steam engine.
Certainly, though, converting mechanical energy into electrical energy to be used is far more efficient than relying on a series of moving parts to manipulate the mechanical energy itself.
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:42 pm
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Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:01 pm
I have an interesting idea for the cyberpunk novel I'm writing.
I wanted to think of energy efficient and mostly environmentally safe power sources, since it's supposed to be almost 1000 years in the future, and I came up with a sort of cold fusion power generator. The military dropship I've created(might actually be making a basic 3d render of it later after I finish the one for the needle pistol!), and it runs by a fusion/steam engine. The engine is compartmentalized, with a boiler type of unit that you fill with water, and plasma is used to slowly and evenly heat the water, so that the engines only exhaust is steam. It operates by propeller units that can be independantly directionalized to whatever is needed, and the HUD and controls inside the cabin run off of plasma from the main drive. in this way it stays clean and efficient. the only issue is that the steam vents would need to be replaced after a certain amount of time due to corrosion.
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:29 am
Actually, steam itself is a completely non-polluting fuel source, and really, not a power source at all. It relies on heat in some form or another to gain energy, which it then converts into mechanical energy. Also, given today's advancements in heat re-use and closed-circut steamlines, it is actually possible for an ECE (External combustion engine) to be more fuel efficient than an ICE (Internal combustion engine). In fact, a possibly revolutionary engine has already been developed, surpassing most gas-engines in efficiency, and having superb boiler heating times. The "Ezee" Engine
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:30 am
ST34MPUNK3R Actually, steam itself is a completely non-polluting fuel source, and really, not a power source at all. It relies on heat in some form or another to gain energy, which it then converts into mechanical energy. I've often wondered if it were possible to simply drill a massive hole in the ground and harness Geothermal energy. If you've ever been on the Tube in London - it's pretty damn hot down there. Obviously this probably wont work well in mobile applications xd But as a source of clean energy geothermal only seems to get a mention when near naturally occuring geothermal vents...
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:41 pm
Draco Vampir I have an interesting idea for the cyberpunk novel I'm writing. I wanted to think of energy efficient and mostly environmentally safe power sources, since it's supposed to be almost 1000 years in the future, and I came up with a sort of cold fusion power generator. The military dropship I've created(might actually be making a basic 3d render of it later after I finish the one for the needle pistol!), and it runs by a fusion/steam engine. The engine is compartmentalized, with a boiler type of unit that you fill with water, and plasma is used to slowly and evenly heat the water, so that the engines only exhaust is steam. It operates by propeller units that can be independantly directionalized to whatever is needed, and the HUD and controls inside the cabin run off of plasma from the main drive. in this way it stays clean and efficient. the only issue is that the steam vents would need to be replaced after a certain amount of time due to corrosion. Interesting idea...but doesn;t the prescence of plasma classify that as hot fusion?
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:24 pm
 Yeah I was think about this a while ago. Okay so you have this big thing right that spins in a big boiler to keep it warm. What keeps it spinning the the steam itself. You just need to make it so that nothing gets out though the pipes and the thing it's powering. Picture show how this thing works.
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