Geothermal energy mod

1st Official Post

    There was some discussion on the kiara server about a possible geothermal generator mod. this is an outline of the ideas to compare them and get feedback.


    The basic concept is that a special block would be placed at bedrock. then, it would be fed mining pipes and energy (and a mining drill?) to increase its "depth". as the depth increases, higher tier mining pipes would be required, made out of more advanced materials. once a redstone signal is applied (or removed?) it will start to generate energy based on its depth. the greater its depth, the more heat is generated. there also may be a modifier based on the biome. the heat will be output the top in either GT or IC2 heat units. this can then be used to make steam, which can be piped to the surface to generate power.


    however, as with most renewable energy sources, some form of limitation must be imposed. there are currently two ideas on how this can be done:


    1. Some bedrock blocks in the world would be replaced with "geothermal tiles" the frequency of this would be based on biome, with volcano biomes having the most, mountains and boreal forests some, and the rest of the world will have nearly none. these would be distinguishable by sight, and the generator must be placed directly on top of this tile.


    the pros of this approach are:
    it is a lot simpler to search for a tile directly underneath rather than having to look at the whole surrounding area.
    it makes these areas "special". while you could find a ton in a volcano biome, you might get lucky and find one somewhere else, which would provide a nice power source, and more variety.
    it is much easier for the player to understand


    The cons of this approach are:
    it requires worldgen.
    it would need flat bedrock to be in effect for it to work optimally


    2. instead of having special blocks, there would be a limit of having only one generator per X tiles. This could be based on biome, alternatively a larger biome based modifier to the heat production could be applied, and have the distance requirement a flat number


    The pros of this approach are:
    It would not require worldgen
    it allows geothermal energy to be used anywhere, though certain biomes would be more effective.


    The cons of this approach are:
    It could be very complicated for a player to get working, since they could cross biome layers, and there is no easy indication of biome borders at bedrock level
    It requires checking the surrounding area every so often, which could cause lag
    it allows it to be spammed indefinitely, though requiring a very large area to do so.
    potentially too similar to bloodasp's proposed oil system


    some ideas for future expansion are:
    a scanner similar to the OV scanner to locate geothermal tiles from the surface
    having disastrous collapses if they are built too close together
    retro-gen to place geothermal tiles after the world is generated
    having the output slowly diminish if too many are in close proximity
    using a second pump to create a coolant circuit
    having surface features such as hot springs to show areas where geothermal spots might be.


    EDIT: some proposed numbers for the first approach:
    a basic mining well generator at its maximum depth will generate 12 HU/t
    invar(or aluminium?): 25
    titanium: 50
    Tungsteel: 100


    a well will take 10-20 pipes to reach the next tier of depth


    the frequency of geothermal spots would be about the following:


    volcanoes: 1 per chunk
    mountains, boreal forest (any others?): 1 per 5 chunks
    everywhere else: 1 per 25 chunks

    I *think* I could make with a tad bit of help something like that. In case nobody with real skills is interested.

    [1.7.10][Kirara] New administrator of Kirara servers. A serie of well-made hardmode GregTech server. Come join the fun. ;]

    it would be good but i would suggest more then 60 .. and using the heat exchangers as a option? ( and coolent systems like the 5x5x5 has )


    my thought is top tier gives enough to run a kinetic steam system or two ?



    maybe have a check every minute? pull heat up once a minute to determine the "yeild" of heat



    for example tech lvl 1
    IE it sends say 1000 mb of coolant down to be heated up and once a minute it sends it back up as hot. but if two are in the are each one gets 500 mb..


    a tech 2 sends say 2500 mb down


    tech 3 sends say 5000 mb down.


    a tech 1 and 3 would give the tech 3 4500 mb and tech 1 500 ? ( tech 3 should get more then 50% but i can't think of good ratio balance #'s) ( or maybe a tech 1 will shut down when it sees a tech 3 to prevent waste?.. imho this would be easier and the tech 3 gets full load)


    but if you have equal techs then it should split as evenly as possable.


    the coolant can go to a heat exchanger or fermenter or furnace or something else? as desired..


    I have no idea what you just said.


    anyway, about the geothermal tile idea, with non-flat bedrock, one would just have check y-level 1-5 or so for bedrock blocks(for every x z coordinate, of course), and add the geothermal tile to the topmost. also, maybe some worldgen at the surface to indicate a geothermal tile being near?

    Native language german, please point out mistakes to me. forget it, my english is better than that of a good deal of people on the forums anyway.


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    • Official Post
    Quote from blub01

    maybe some worldgen at the surface to indicate a geothermal tile being near?

    Like them being under surface lava lakes?

    145 Mods isn't too many. 9 types of copper and 8 types of tin aren't too many. 3 types of coffee though?

    I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realise that what you read was not what I meant.


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    // I just don't know what went wrong :(


    I see this too much.

    Quote from blub01


    I have no idea what you just said.


    anyway, about the geothermal tile idea, with non-flat bedrock, one would just have check y-level 1-5 or so for bedrock blocks(for every x z coordinate, of course), and
    add the geothermal tile to the topmost. also, maybe some worldgen at the surface to indicate a geothermal tile being near?


    you would have 3 tiers of the geothermal machine, each one gives you more hot coolant but a 16x16 area ( chuck size but it checks the area to prevent gaming by placing in 4 nearby chunks ) can only support so much heat being pulled out a minute



    the tiers determine how DEEP you go.. and how much coolant you can pump in a minute, tier 1 X ammount, tier 2 X * 2-4, tier 3 X * 3-6?
    so higher tiers equal higher coolant per minute..
    they would pump down coolant into the "earth" and then pump up hot coolant ( sorta like how it works in real life )


    checking every minute would reduce server load i presume?


    So every server minute it checks the area and sees if there are other geothermal wells around ?
    If it finds any it divides the "heating" among all the wells of the same tier.. then waits a minute before doing it again.


    When it pumps up it fills up a internal tank.. with hot coolant and with a block that uses heat it cools down and puts the coolant into a "underground tank"





    Also you had no idea but could you have asked .. i can clarify like i have and hopefully explained and if not ask!




    Quote

    Like them being under surface lava lakes?


    it
    would require a re-generation/new world to work with.. and i don't feel
    that would help make it attractive.. plus that would limit this alot to
    specific areas.. ..


    it does make sense like iceland uses it ALOT to heat but those areas could just be a bonus?


    IE


    it increases by a new chunk having something under it that inproves the chunk its in?

    since it only modifies the bedrock, I think retro-gen would be fairly easy to do, like how thaumcraft can place nodes in places. anyway, the 60HU/t is about 1.5 RTGs (unless my math is wrong) which is pretty good for a renewable power source. though, the idea of having diminishing returns by having too many in the same area is interesting. I know that in real life, over-harvesting geothermal causes the amount produced to diminish over time. perhaps the output could be increased, but having too many close by would result in the output slowly decreasing somewhat. that way, having a lucky geothermal spot somewhere else is still a good boon, without making volcano biomes overpowered. I will add that to the OP.

    Quote from Kenken244

    since it only modifies the bedrock, I think retro-gen would be fairly easy to do, like how thaumcraft can place nodes in places. anyway, the 60HU/t is about 1.5 RTGs (unless my math is wrong) which is pretty good for a renewable power source. though, the idea of having diminishing returns by having too many in the same area is interesting. I know that in real life, over-harvesting geothermal causes the amount produced to diminish over time. perhaps the output could be increased, but having too many close by would result in the output slowly decreasing somewhat. that way, having a lucky geothermal spot somewhere else is still a good boon, without making volcano biomes overpowered. I will add that to the OP.

    how can a mod retrogen a world? ( curious about this since i am wanting to add mods that need things like oil or uses redstone energy )


    also messing with bedrock imho is a bit weird but ok :)


    well in real life they use the heat to make steam turbines.. and 60 hu/t is not enough.. you need 200 hu/t to do it with the current setup!


    i would say doing multiple tiers would be good.. 60 hu/t is enough to run a single fermenter at max but i would not do that..
    a sterling can do max 50 i thought?


    consider your going up against solar on this and thats pretty powerfull once you get it going /get alot of them.. ( current array/system maked about 1k/tick in sun )


    I would hope my idea of pumping things down would be a good solution to limiting and creating tiers :)




    RE geothermal with a mood/volcano spot would offer alot more then normal.. so 3-4 or more in a small area would be decent return and not overwhelm ( IE they can do more mb/minute then non boosted sites so that if you had multiple you would not max out..


    IE a normal area say can support 4000 mb /minute whereas a hot zone could do 8000.. so it could do two tier 3's ?


    hope that makes sense?

    Quote from SpwnX

    Wrong math ken. RTG makes up to 64 HU/t.

    which stierling makes it 32 eu/t .. not worth it imho to have one limited to a area.. which is why i suggested multiple options/scanning and multiple tiers of output?

    Quote from Chocohead

    Quoted from "blub01"




    maybe some worldgen at the surface to indicate a geothermal tile being near?
    Like them being under surface lava lakes?


    No i meant something like a higher temperature, and hot springs and things like that( i THINK these are caused by geothermal spots, corect me if I'm wrong). Also, lava lakes are kinda unrealistic as indicators for geothermal activity, as that just isn't hot enough. They are also quite unrealistic by themselves, the lava SHOULD cool down in a short period of time.

    Native language german, please point out mistakes to me. forget it, my english is better than that of a good deal of people on the forums anyway.


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    Quote from blub01


    No i meant something like a higher temperature, and hot springs and things like that( i THINK these are caused by geothermal spots, corect me if I'm wrong). Also, lava lakes are kinda unrealistic as indicators for geothermal activity, as that just isn't hot enough. They are also quite unrealistic by themselves, the lava SHOULD cool down in a short period of time.

    hot springs would work.. but the issue is you don't want to deplete them :)


    maybe have the water as a drink? ( adds a buff because its sparkeling/carbonated? )


    I would suggest the waters "heal" a bit but should they be a limited resource or can you make more with a machine and water and heat and compressed air? ( idea ? )


    in any part of the world youc an dig down deep enough to get to heat/cooling options for a home.. its how deep..
    if you can re-do a biome some it would be awesome then :)

    ah, I have updated the OP with new numbers. using coolant is an interesting idea, maybe have to have a second pump to pull out the coolant while the other one is pumping it in? would give a big of upgrade potential, especially if the other pump requires higher tech. having surface features showing a possible location is a cool idea, though it would require more worldgen. I Will add these ideas to the OP.


    I would think some weak-ish healing potential while you're in a naturally generated pond, and it turns into regular (mineral, as the water collects minerals in the ground, where it also ggets heated by geothermal sources, i think) water a short while after it was picked up in a bucket, like TFC's heat system maybe, as hot springs have healing potential in RL. also, maybe make the blocks replenish and make it a source of mineral water, and should the overuseage code be adde for geothermal power plants, maybe add it for the springs, too? and add some slight buff to drinking mineral water, as already suggested - maybe a really weak haste effect, due to it being refreshing?

    Native language german, please point out mistakes to me. forget it, my english is better than that of a good deal of people on the forums anyway.


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