View Single Post
Old 04-09-2016, 05:51 PM   #24
Minuteman37
 
Minuteman37's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Kenai, Alaska
Default Re: [ATE] Farming example

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
The average human being needs 2250 kilo calories per day, which is roughly 10 MJ per person per day. Plant crops have a 1% photosynthetic efficiency and natural light LED capable of the required intensity have a 50% efficiency, meaning that 2 GJ per person per day would be required for minimal substance on a vegetarian diet with no support crops. Meat animals and support crops (barley for beer, cotton for clothing, hemp for fiber, and tobacco for smoking) would reduce overall efficiency by 90%, which would mean that you need 20 GJ per person per day.
Wouldn't both the vegetarian and omnivorous require support crops?

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
If you have an acre per person, you have more than sufficient energy production. If not, you would require an average supply of 240 kW per person and, more importantly, you need energy for life support (ventilation, sterilization, etc) so you can recycle biological material with minimal threat of disease, increasing power consumption to 400 kW per person. The final energy requirement would be 40 MW, requiring a 100 MW power plant with a 40% conversions efficiency.

If fission, your rods are done within two decades. If fusion, you would need around 14 kilograms of tritium per year, which is more than the current global. Even if you could find sufficient tritium, it has a half-life of 12.5 years, so a fusion power plant would likely run out of supplies within 25 years. Breeding tritium is a highly advanced technology and would be impossible in an economy of less than a million people. TL4 comes from the fact that it is the highest TL that can be sustained with a population below 10 million people.
What about the geothermal bore E mention in the text?
Minuteman37 is offline   Reply With Quote