The Colony's Power Problems

ok, this is more of a solution post then a theory. BUT!

if you need power for water, need water for food and people, people need gas, gas = the fight vs them......... why not make a water turbine..... like a big wheel, you see on a lake or something, there's even a lake nearby... datu and the guy who fixed the radio, shit isn't there a lake near by? you can do away with generators.

why not just take a few alternators as many car batteries which i'm given is a lot of bled out cars from their gas out there too. daisy chain them together, big old wheel, to an axel, axel turns some sort of belt which then powers alternaters. BOOM, power, if needs be use another water pump to turn the wheel, you can wire up some kind of feed back system for it i'm sure.

just my thoughts.

I could be wrong, but pelting wheels generally run on moving water. Lakes won't do. I AM kind of surprised Datu hasn't come out and said "Bring me the biggest fucking magnets you can find!"

Tap those natural gas lines, burn some damn coal, diesel from marine craft, dangle a sweat bottle in front of a zombie on a treadmill attached to a generator, dam the L.A. River. Solutions are out there, but I don't think the characters are reading the forums because their internet is down. They'll have to figure it out themselves.

The most chilling thing I've heard in this story since the fall of Boulder and Attack on Fort Irwin is the fact that they are within weeks of running out of fuel and ammo. It's like the apocalypse is starting all over again.

The reason our heroes are having problems with fuel is the seasonal switch from the California Air Resources Board's mandated winter blend fuels to the mandated summer blend. It happens every year, with fuel shortages across California and big price increases. There's no reason to believe that the Apocalypse will stop the insanity.

By the way, there are no lakes or rivers near the Colony that could be used for serious hydro power. In that part of California the rivers and canals are all really just drainage channels to deal with the rains, when they come. The Colorado River is already dammed and controlled up in the mountains, and it is basically a covered aqueduct once it hits the LA metro area.

I'm rather surprised that CJ hasn't yet considered a potential fuel crisis sooner. Even if you don't factor in the fact that fuel eventually goes bad over time, there's still only a finite amount of it left since no more is being produced. And like she said at the beginning of chapter 40-2, they're using more fuel on scavenging missions than they're bringing back. The further outward from the colony they have to travel, the more of a problem that will become.
Datu and Glenn will eventually create some sort of sustainable power source - CJ's just bitching about it because she didn't think of it before them.

What about solar panels?

Ok, it is not a constant energy source but there seem to be some companies around in L.A.

https://maps.google.de/maps?ie=UTF-8...&ved=0CO4BELYD

And there's plenty of sunshine in California

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Originally Posted by YetAnotherBloodyCheek

What about solar panels?

Ok, it is not a constant energy source but there seem to be some companies around in L.A.

https://maps.google.de/maps?ie=UTF-8...&ved=0CO4BELYD

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I had this conversation with someone the other day. I bet even a lot of local buildings will have them installed - we see them here in the North of England (although there are subsidies here that are likely different) so I'd have thought LA buildings would have them occasionally too. All you have to do is send Datu to study the installation, then uninstall them and bring them to the colony. Then hopefully he'd have the skills to go to a factory or warehouse and bring a whole shedload of panels to set up...

Between Glenn and Datu, they should be able to set something up. The main problem is, depending on their size, transporting them to the Colony and hoisting them to a high enough vantage point. I know that the panels people have on their homes here (I'm in the NE of England too!) are quite large and cumbersome - I imagine the ones attached to buildings in LA must be even bigger

Here is more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califor...lar_Initiative

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Originally Posted by YetAnotherBloodyCheek

Here is more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califor...lar_Initiative

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Assuming that the implementation of this plan is on track, then it's reasonable to assume that it is at less than halfway toward its final goal during the time of the outbreak. However, in comparing the goals of the initiative to the power requirements of the colony, it seems likely that there will be enough solar powered resources available in California at least to support the power demands of the colony.
I still think that the logistics of transporting the solar resources could be an issue depending on the size of the panels or the intricacy of the technology necessary to operate them, though domestic/privately-owned units could be more beneficial.

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Originally Posted by tonyhind86

Between Glenn and Datu, they should be able to set something up. The main problem is, depending on their size, transporting them to the Colony and hoisting them to a high enough vantage point. I know that the panels people have on their homes here (I'm in the NE of England too!) are quite large and cumbersome - I imagine the ones attached to buildings in LA must be even bigger

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Yep, transport would be the biggest problem - I guess they're fairly fragile too? But then the guys trundle up around here with the panels in the back of transit vans, so if the colonists could just find something that size, or even a 7.5 tonner, that'd be a start. I don't think they'd have to be up particularly high either, just need a good open area with unobstructed sun from the south for as many hours a day as possible. And some way to actually collect/store/use the electricity, of course. That part would probably be even harder. But I have faith in King Datu the Resourceful!

EDIT: I'm in the toon too, we're probably referencing the very same panels here ^_^

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Originally Posted by skankyfish

EDIT: I'm in the toon too, we're probably referencing the very same panels here ^_^

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I believe we are referencing the same panels my fellow geordie companion :-)
My thoughts regarding transporting the panels are based on the amount of obstacles on the roads between the colony and the 'collection points'. I'm not totally sure about their fragility, though I did drop a solar-powered calculator down the toilet and it still works OK ;-)

I like the Zombie treadmill idea!
Gas them out, chain them to treadmills attached to generators and dangle so food in front of them. You could feed them table scraps, rotten food, road kill, mallers etc!
It would be VERY "Shaun of the Dead" to end the series by turning zombies into domestic servants.

The survivors could get themselves in an unrecoverable fuel situation if they are not careful. If they use up all the local fuel they will not have enough fuel to go the distance to get more. They need to aggressively look for tankers that they can use to pump out gas stations. If they have to travel on foot, or horseback?, to get fuel they probably won't survive.

The real problem is that the survivors don't have a mechanical engineer, power is actually really easy IF you are not worried about pollution.

Get an old incenerator, a boiler and a steam turbine and you can make power with anything that burns, plastic has lots of energy but the exhaust fumes are pretty poisonous.

I believe I heard on the "Were Alive Fancast" Podcast the idea of making icehouses. You could actually travel to an energy source, like a gas station miles away and run generators to make blocks of ice that you truck back. It would take a quick experiment to see if 100 lbs of gasoline could make more or less than 100 lbs of ice. Move the fuel or the ice whichever more efficient.

Another option is to take propane powered refrigerators out of RV's These refrigerators have no moving parts and only use electricity to control the temperature.

Also the survivors need someone's grandmother to show them how to can fruits and vegetables.

Windmill have been used to pump water for hundreds of years, and there is actually a lot of farming done near LA so they should be able to steal one.

Other power sources are landfills. Landfills make natural gas for a long time. Most landfills just burn it off but they built a prison near me right next to a landfill because they use the natural gas to heat the prison. CNG Compressed Natural Gas is a pain to use as an truck fuel because the filling stations are huge and insanely expensive to compress it to 3600 psi, and it is still a gas. Propane is better because it converts to a liquid at around 130psi (at room tempurature). The problem with propane is that it does not occur naturally.

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Originally Posted by tonyhind86

I believe we are referencing the same panels my fellow geordie companion :-)
My thoughts regarding transporting the panels are based on the amount of obstacles on the roads between the colony and the 'collection points'. I'm not totally sure about their fragility, though I did drop a solar-powered calculator down the toilet and it still works OK ;-)

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I hadn't considered obstacles... The collection vehicle would need to be accompanied (or preceded) by something like a hummer, I guess, to clear the roads. Someone needs to so some sums to see if the effort to get them is worth the payout - I suspect overwhelmingly yes.

I'm not a native Geordie, but after 10+ years here I hope I qualify as an adoptive one ;-)

you know, i listened to monsters part 3 last night *** maybe spoilers ahead, i'll try not to***

i like what they did, i like the implimentation of solar power to run the gear box which powers the pump, which then generates power for the colony..... i like it a lot lets just hope it sticks and keeps working