Maybe make Netherrack a renewable resource by drying Pahoehoe Lava? Here's two ways it could work:
- Pahoehoe Lava in the Nether dries to Netherrack instead of Basalt.
- Pahoehoe Lava has a small (10%) chance of drying into Netherrack, otherwise it becomes Basalt.
This way we could have nice Nether Brick factories by pumping lava from the Nether -> heatingcooling the lava into Pahoehoe Lava -> Dispensing the Pahoehoe Lava -> Mining the Netherrack/Basalt (I'm working on a way to do this automatically) -> Smelting the Netherrack into Nether Brick and storing the Bricks and Basalt instead of (currently) just Basalt. Now I have plenty of Basalt and Nether Brick for building, and it is sustainable so long as there is still lava to pump.
Edit (3/23/2015):
Yeah, on second thought, the original idea is probably not so useful if the Nether is enabled. Here's my new idea:
- Pahoehoe Lava doesn't dry automatically, you need to use a cold fluid like coolant (or water, but coolant is more fun). Less ticking blocks is always better.
- Pahoehoe Lava non-source blocks dry into Netherrack.
By the way, you can already use cold fluids to dry Pahoehoe Lava. I just don't see why it needs to dry by itself. In real life, the high temperature gradient causes the lava to dry very quickly but only on the outside, and this newly-hardened outside insulates the interior lava flow, which doesn't dry for months or even years. The time it takes the outsides of the interior lava flow are also exponential due to the increasing insulation.