I've used a [reed farm -> fermenter -> biogas engines -> transformers -> EU] setup in multiple worlds and it works just great.
Using a single 21x21 reed farm (with optimal fill pattern, 80%) 1 biofuel engine on a forestry harvester - produces more reed than you know what to do with.
The fermenter needs 1 biogas engine powering it for every ~25-ish engines that need biomass.
And If you want a REALLY OP setup with forestry - do it in an accelerated mystcraft age lol.
I've used a [reed farm -> fermenter -> biogas engines -> transformers -> EU] setup in multiple worlds and it works just great.
Using a single 21x21 reed farm (with optimal fill pattern, 80%) 1 biofuel engine on a forestry harvester - produces more reed than you know what to do with.
The fermenter needs 1 biogas engine powering it for every ~25-ish engines that need biomass.
And If you want a REALLY OP setup with forestry - do it in an accelerated mystcraft age lol.
Why?
If you can simply burn one bucket of milk for 40000 MJ in a biogas engine?
Redpower automilk refill + biogas + Transformer -> EU!
I really do think that BC power generation needs a rework at this point. There's alot of glaring problems with SpaceToad's model now that mods have 'evolved' ever since the inception of Forge. While the liquid system of power is unquestionably the best attribute from Buildcraft, the engines are quite inefficient and several parts of BC can easily be converted and exploited into unintentional means...
Don't get me wrong, I love Forestry and Buildcraft and Power Converters, but I think it's time that either SirSengri or Krapt rework the BC energy system to something more practical and less fictitious...
I've used a [reed farm -> fermenter -> biogas engines -> transformers -> EU] setup in multiple worlds and it works just great.
What do you use as a fermenter?
Why?
If you can simply burn one bucket of milk for 40000 MJ in a biogas engine?
Milk is good early, but for Industrial amounts of electricity you will have to use too much engines. So, biomass, or even seed oil is better.
Don't get me wrong, I love Forestry and Buildcraft and Power Converters, but I think it's time that either SirSengri or Krapt rework the BC energy system to something more practical and less fictitious...
I think APS addon address some of issues.
Milk is good early, but for Industrial amounts of electricity you will have to use too much engines. So, biomass, or even seed oil is better.
But milk is free, so "free" electricity. Each engine = 2,5 EU/t permanently (as you keep up Redpower filling one engine with a milk bucket every 40000 ticks. [about 33 minutes] )
Well, all green gens are "free". Only cost is initial setup and lags.
Milk works great with logistic pipes. You can have a dispenser or turtle at one point (with a cow, of cause), providing milk and collecting empty buckets, and then at any point of network you can have unlimited refills with liquid supplier.
But if you want to have hundreds of MJ/t for MassFab, then most pricy thing are engines, and with using biomass you can make 5x from same amount of engines. Making sufficient biomass is relatively cheap, if you use logger efficiently.
About less engines you are right, but making biomass is not as easy as gathering milk (Redpower Deployers works great for that).
If you have logger you should make tree farms and use wood for scaffold in IC² generators.
About less engines you are right, but making biomass is not as easy as gathering milk (Redpower Deployers works great for that).
If you have logger you should make tree farms and use wood for scaffold in IC² generators.
Making biomass is as easy as Reed Farm + Fermentor + Compost. Either set up a wheat farm or just use ash from all your peat-fired engines from all your Forestry setups, either way all you are spending is one dirt per compost, which you produce from your peat bog anyways.
The more important thing, in my opinion, is space considerations in your engine room. I've got an engine room five times as compact by running on biomass. That's a major consideration in many of my builds. Because while i might spread out in wide open spaces, I like having my bases compact.
There is one catch. Trees (and, probably, other crops) do not seem to grow when there is no player around.
It doesnt since only chunks nearby players are loaded on memory (and thus active, growing stuff, decaying items, producing energy...). Unloaded chunks have their time "frozen"
