Difference between revisions of "Chemfuel powered generator"

Latest revision as of 17:34, 11 March 2024

The chemfuel powered generator produces power from chemfuel. The generator is an exact analog to the wood-fired generator, only the type of fuel is different.

Acquisition[edit]

Chemfuel powered generators can be constructed once the Electricity research project has been completed. They require 100 Steel, 3 Components, 2,500 ticks (41.67 secs) of work, and a Construction skill of 6.

Once constructed, a chemfuel generator cannot be moved, it can only be deconstructed.

Summary[edit]

The chemfuel powered generator consumes 4.5 chemfuel per day and generates a constant 1000W as long as it is switched on and fueled. It can hold up to 30 fuel at a time, for a maximum run time of 6.66 days. Fuel consumption is not dependent on how much power is actually drawn. Fuel has to be delivered to the generator by a hauler colonists. It can be switched off; in the off state it will neither consume fuel nor produce power.

Light & heat[edit]

It outputs light in a 6 tile radius, with the nearest 3.485 tiles being above 50% light level and considered lit. Note that the light source is centered at the bottom-left tile of the generator, rather than the "true" center of the generator.

It heats at a rate of 6 heat per second^{[Exact mechanic unclear]}. Unlike many other heat sources, it does not appear to have a maximum temperature and will continue to heat up rooms indefinitely.^{[Confirmation needed]}.

Explosion[edit]

If it is damaged below one third of its hitpoints, or 100 HP, it has a %70 chance to explode. The generator will spark and emit a hissing sound shortly before exploding between 70 ticks (1.17 secs) and 150 ticks (2.5 secs) later. The explosion deals 10 Flame damage in a radius around itself that depends on the quantity of fuel in the generator. At 0 fuel, the explosion has a radius of 0 and only destroys the generator, and expanding this radius proportional to the square root of the fuel times 0.95 up to a maximum radius of 5.34 tiles when fully fueled. This explosion leaves Chemfuel puddles which will then ignite and burn.

Analysis[edit]

Chemfuel generators are compact, can be placed anywhere, and offer a consistent source of power, making it one of the easiest generators to use. Most other power sources scale much worse; they are either inconsistent, have a location requirement, or take up lots of space. With chemfuel generators, you can easily place as many as you want, so long as you can fuel them.

However, these generators require upkeep, both to create the chemfuel, and to haul the fuel to the generator. The exact amount of work depends on which source of chemfuel is used - infinite chemreactors are very limited, but require no work to create. Many colonies will have to research Biofuel Refining to actually make some.

In general, any source of chemfuel is less work than what a wood-fired generator would take. The workload is reasonably low, so using chemfuel does not bring excessive burden to a colony.

Fuel economy[edit]

Using wood for fuel[edit]

With a biofuel refinery, chemfuel generators consume 9 wood of chemfuel per day, less than a wood-fired generator's 22 per day. Both generators produce the same amount of power. Converting wood to chemfuel takes work, but harvesting wild trees takes longer when considering the time to walk and haul. When cultivating your own plants, using corn takes much less work than growing trees. Note that the refinery itself requires 170 W of power, but you only need 1 refinery for many generators. In specific:

Converting wood to chemfuel takes 2,000 ticks (33.33 secs) of work for 7.78 days of fuel, or 257 ticks (4.28 secs) for 1 day of fuel.
Just harvesting the wood depends on biome, growth of the tree, and Plants skill.
- With a Plants skill of 8, it would take a ballpark of 260 ticks (4.33 secs) of work to harvest 9 wood, a day of fuel, for a fully grown, non-cactus tree.
- For reference, it would take the same pawn a ballpark of 650 ticks (10.83 secs) of work to harvest 22 wood.

As it only takes a base 517 ticks (8.62 secs) to fuel a chemfuel generator for one day, the wood-fired generator is often less efficient.

When considering tree cutting, note that you will need to go further and further to cut more trees. A wood-fired generator requires you to cut more trees, which means more hauling time.

Sowing a single tree takes 4,000 ticks (1.11 mins) of work, which makes them much less efficient than any food crop. Fibercorn is less efficient than regular corn, too.

Using boomalopes for fuel[edit]

A boomalope produces, at most, 11 chemfuel per day. This takes 400 ticks (6.67 secs) of work before modifiers. This is enough to fuel ~2.44 generators, which in practice means 2 generators per day.

In theory, a herd of 9 boomalope can fuel 22 generators indefinitely. However, milking is not an instant process, so it is difficult to reach an optimal amount.

Using the Infinite Chemreactor[edit]

The Infinite chemreactor is a world quest item that generates 75 chemfuel every ten days (effectively 7.5 chemfuel per day) at a cost of 300 watts and no work. This is more than enough to power a single chemfuel powered generator, providing a net +700 watts of power, while leaving 30 chemfuel after a 10 day cycle (an average of 3 excess/day). 3 infinite chemreactors are exactly enough to power 5 chemfuel generators, providing an excess of 4,100 watts of power (5,000w -900w).

Assuming a small buffer of chemfuel to start, this is easily attainable, because the supply side is reliable, and refueling can be done well in advance.

Growing plants for fuel[edit]

Chemfuel generators together with hydroponics greenhouses and biofuel refineries produce a significant net energy profit, if the colonist workforce is available to run the setup. The (simplified) conversion chain is

Power (for greenhouse) → food (for refinery) → chemfuel (for generator) → power

A lot of excess power is generated at the end of the chain.

A single hydroponics basin can produce ~0.61 raw nutrition per day (growing rice, and assuming a perfect grow operation). This converts into ~6.1 chemfuel per day at a biofuel refinery. Therefore, the produce from a single basin fuels about 1.3 chemfuel generators. This is not attainable in practice, but will serve as a guideline. Assuming the full area of a sun lamp is occupied by 24 hydroponics basins in the optimal configuration and accounting for the basin's share of the sunlamps power consumption, each individual basin effectively consumes 136W of power on average, or 191W peak. This results in a theoretical net gain in energy of about 1211W on average or 1156W peak per dedicated hydroponics basin. While, the power draw of the refinery is not taken into account, it can be micro-managed if chemfuel is produced in batches, and will not play a big role in the overall economy.

With adequate batteries to handle the day-night cycle of sun lamps, 3.3 generators are needed to power a full hydroponics setup, which will require ~14.7 chemfuel per day, or about 2.4 hydroponics basins dedicated to producing rice to turn into chemfuel. This means that with 4 generators, you can grow plants in 21 of the 24 hydroponics basins for free, with an average of 736W of power spare. Note that this assumes 100% harvest efficiency - as harvest efficiency decreases at higher difficulties, the number of basins that must be dedicated to chemfuel production will increase in direct proportion.

Corn can also be grown to feed chemfuel generators, with 8.6 tiles of corn plant in 100% fertility soil needed for each generator.

Version history[edit]

0.18.1722 - Added.
1.1.0 - Refueling is now toggleable.

Architect

Power: Power conduit (Waterproof) • Power switch • Wood-fired generator • Chemfuel powered generator • Wind turbine
(research): Battery • Geothermal generator • Solar generator • Watermill generator • Toxifier generator
(uncraftable): Vanometric power cell • Unstable power cell
Related: Ship reactor

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-__NOTOC__
+{{infobox main|building|
-<onlyinclude>{{infobox main|building|
+| name = Chemfuel powered generator
-|name = Chemfuel powered generator
+| image = Chemfuel_powered_generator.png|128px
-|image = Chemfuel_powered_generator.png|128px{{!}} Fueled generator
+| description = Produces power by consuming chemfuel. Must be periodically refueled by hand.
-|description =  Produces electricity from chemfuel.
+| type = Building
-|type = Buildings
+| type2 = Power
-|type2 = Power
+| placeable = true
-|placeable = Yes
+| path cost = 50
-|size = 2|2
+| passability = pass through only
-|hp =300
+| blockswind = true
-|efficiency =
+| cover = 1
-|power = + 1000
+| minifiable = false
-|buy = {{icon|metal|100 }} {{icon|component |3}}
+| size = 2 ˣ 2
-|sell = {{icon|metal|75 }} {{icon|component |2}}
+| flammability = 1
-}}</onlyinclude>
+| hp = 300
+| beauty = -20
+| power = 1000
+| glowradius = 6
+| glowcolor = (80, 112, 180)
+| heatpersecond = 6
+| terrain affordance = medium
+| research = Electricity
+| skill 1 = Construction
+| skill 1 level = 6
+| work to make = 2500
+| resource 1 = Steel
+| resource 1 amount = 100
+| resource 2 = Component
+| resource 2 amount = 3
+}}
+{{info|The '''chemfuel powered generator''' produces [[power]] from [[chemfuel]]. The generator is an exact analog to the [[wood-fired generator]], only the type of fuel is different.}}
-{{info|The '''chemfuel powered generator''' produces power from [[chemfuel]].  The generator outputs a constant 1000 W, burning 4.5 chemfuel per day (no matter how much power is actually drawn).  Fuel has to be delivered to the generator by a colonist.  The generator is an exact analog to the [[wood-fired generator]], only the type of fuel is different.  Generators are a low-level light source, and also produce heat.}}
+== Acquisition ==
+Chemfuel powered generators can be constructed once the [[Research#{{P|Required Research}}|{{P|Required Research}}]] research project has been completed. They require {{Required Resources}}, {{Ticks|{{P|Work To Make}}}} of work, and a [[{{P|Skill 1}}]] skill of {{P|Skill 1 Level}}.
-== Fuel and energy economy ==
+Once constructed, a chemfuel generator cannot be moved, it can only be deconstructed.
-A chemfuel powered generator holds 30 chemfuel, consuming '''4.5 chemfuel per day'''.  A completely fueled-up generator will run for 6 days and 16 hours without refueling.  For comparison, the [[wood-fired generator]] uses 22 wood per day.
+==Summary==
+The chemfuel powered generator consumes {{icon small|chemfuel}} 4.5 [[chemfuel]] per day and generates a constant 1000W as long as it is switched on and fueled. It can hold up to 30 fuel at a time, for a maximum run time of 6.66 days. Fuel consumption is not dependent on how much power is actually drawn.  Fuel has to be delivered to the generator by a [[Work#Haul|hauler colonists]]. It can be switched off; in the off state it will neither consume fuel nor produce power.
+==== Light & heat ====
+It outputs [[light]] in a 6 tile radius, with the nearest {{P|Light Radius}} tiles being above 50% light level and considered lit.  Note that the light source is centered at the bottom-left tile of the generator, rather than the "true" center of the generator.
+It heats at a rate of 6 heat per second{{Check Tag|Exact mechanic unclear|Provides comparison with other heat sources but doesn't explain how much it actually heats}}. Unlike many other heat sources, it does not appear to have a maximum temperature and will continue to heat up rooms indefinitely.{{Check Tag|Confirmation needed}}.
+==== Explosion ====
+If it is damaged below one third of its hitpoints, or {{#expr: {{P|Max Hit Points Base #}}/3}} HP, it has a %70 chance to explode. The generator will spark and emit a hissing sound shortly before exploding between {{ticks|70}} and {{ticks|150}} later. The explosion deals 10 [[Damage Type#Flame|Flame]] damage in a radius around itself that depends on the quantity of fuel in the generator. At 0 fuel, the explosion has a radius of 0 and only destroys the generator, and expanding this radius proportional to the square root of the fuel times 0.95 up to a maximum radius of {{#expr: 0+((30*0.95)^0.5) round 2}} tiles when fully fueled. This explosion leaves [[Filth|Chemfuel puddles]] which will then ignite and burn.
+==Analysis==
+Chemfuel generators are compact, can be placed anywhere, and offer a consistent source of power, making it one of the easiest generators to use. Most other power sources ''scale'' much worse; they are either inconsistent, have a location requirement, or take up lots of space. With chemfuel generators, you can easily place as many as you want, so long as you can fuel them.
+However, these generators require upkeep, both to create the chemfuel, and to haul the fuel to the generator. The exact amount of work depends on which source of chemfuel is used - [[infinite chemreactor]]s are very limited, but require no work to create. Many colonies will have to research [[Research#Biofuel refining|Biofuel Refining]] to actually make some.
+In general, any source of chemfuel is less work than what a [[wood-fired generator]] would take. The workload is reasonably low, so using chemfuel does not bring excessive burden to a colony.
+==Fuel economy==
+===Using wood for fuel===
+With a [[biofuel refinery]], chemfuel generators consume {{icon small|wood}} 9 [[wood]] of chemfuel per day, less than a [[wood-fired generator]]'s {{icon small|wood}} 22 per day. Both generators produce the same amount of power. Converting wood to chemfuel takes work, but harvesting wild trees takes longer when considering the time to walk and haul. When cultivating your own plants, using [[corn]] takes much less work than growing trees. Note that the refinery itself requires 170 W of power, but you only need 1 refinery for many generators. In specific:
+*Converting wood to chemfuel takes {{ticks|2000}} of work for 7.78 days of fuel, or {{ticks|257}} for 1 day of fuel.
+*Just harvesting the wood depends on [[biome]], growth of the tree, and Plants skill.
+**With a Plants skill of 8, it would take a ballpark of {{ticks|260}} of work to harvest {{icon small|wood}} 9 [[wood]], a day of fuel, for a fully grown, non-cactus tree.
+**For reference, it would take the same pawn a ballpark of {{ticks|650}} of work to harvest {{icon small|wood}} 22 [[wood]].
+: As it only takes a base {{ticks|260+257}} to fuel a chemfuel generator for one day, the wood-fired generator is often less efficient.
+*When considering tree cutting, note that you will need to go further and further to cut more trees. A wood-fired generator requires you to cut more trees, which means more hauling time.
+Sowing a single tree takes {{ticks|4000}} of work, which makes them much less efficient than any food crop. [[Fibercorn]]{{IdeologyIcon}} is less efficient than regular [[corn]], too.
 === Using boomalopes for fuel ===
-A [[boomalope]] produces at most 6 chemfuel per day.  One can run 4 generators indefinitely from a herd of 3 boomalopes (one boomalope can fuel ~1.3 generators).  In practice this is not entirely attainable, because milking the animals and refueling the generators will not be a seamless process.
+A [[boomalope]] produces, at most, {{icon small|chemfuel}} {{#show:Boomalope|?Daily Milk Average#}} chemfuel per day. This takes {{ticks|400}} of work before modifiers. This is enough to fuel ~{{#expr:{{#show:Boomalope|?Daily Milk Average#}}/4.5 round 2}} generators, which in practice means 2 generators per day.
+In theory, a herd of 9 boomalope can fuel {{#expr:{{#show:Boomalope|?Daily Milk Average#}}/4.5*9 round 1}} generators indefinitely. However, milking is not an instant process, so it is difficult to reach an optimal amount.
+=== Using the Infinite Chemreactor ===
+The [[Infinite chemreactor]] is a world quest item that generates {{icon small|chemfuel}} 75 chemfuel every ten days (effectively {{icon small|chemfuel}} 7.5 chemfuel per day) at a cost of 300 watts and no work. This is more than enough to power a single chemfuel powered generator, providing a net +700 watts of power, while leaving {{icon small|chemfuel}} 30 chemfuel after a 10 day cycle (an average of 3 excess/day). 3 infinite chemreactors are exactly enough to power 5 chemfuel generators, providing an excess of 4,100 watts of power (5,000w -900w).
+Assuming a small buffer of chemfuel to start, this is easily attainable, because the supply side is reliable, and refueling can be done well in advance.
 === Growing plants for fuel ===
-Unrealistically, and against intuition, '''chemfuel generators together with hydroponics greenhouses and biofuel refineries produce (a lot of) free energy''', if the colonist workforce is available to run the setup.  The conversion chain is
+Chemfuel generators together with hydroponics greenhouses and biofuel refineries produce a significant net energy profit, if the colonist workforce is available to run the setup.  The (simplified) conversion chain is
- ''Power'' (for greenhouse) → ''food'' (for refinery) → ''chemfuel'' (for generator) → ''power''
+{| class="wikitable"
-A lot of excess power is generated at the end of the chain (this would violate the First Law of Thermodynamics in the real world).
+|-
+|''Power'' (for greenhouse) → ''food'' (for refinery) → ''chemfuel'' (for generator) → ''power''
+|}
+A lot of excess power is generated at the end of the chain.
-A single [[hydroponics basin]] can produce ~0.7 raw nutrition per day (growing rice, and assuming a perfect grow operation).  This converts into ~7 chemfuel per day at a [[biofuel refinery]].  Therefore, the produce from a single basin fuels about 1.5 chemfuel generators.  This is not attainable in practice, but will serve as a guideline.  Theoretically, a single hydroponics basin lit by a sun lamp (in a group of 24 basins) uses 130W of power on average, including the sun lamp (190W if you assume day-time power draw).  This results in a theoretical net gain in energy of about 870W (810W during the day).
+A single [[hydroponics basin]] can produce ~{{#expr:4*{{#show:Rice plant|?Harvest Yield Per Day (280)#}}*0.05 round 2}} raw nutrition per day (growing rice, and assuming a perfect grow operation).  This converts into {{Icon Small|Chemfuel}} ~{{#expr:{{#vardefineecho:chemfuel_per_basin_per_day|{{#expr:4*{{#show:Rice plant|?Harvest Yield Per Day (280)#}}*0.05*10 }}}} round 1}} chemfuel per day at a [[biofuel refinery]].  Therefore, the produce from a single basin fuels about {{#expr:{{#var:chemfuel_per_basin_per_day}}/4.5 round 1}} chemfuel generators.  This is not attainable in practice, but will serve as a guideline. Assuming the full area of a sun lamp is occupied by 24 hydroponics basins in the optimal configuration and accounting for the basin's share of the sunlamps power consumption, each individual basin effectively consumes {{#vardefineecho:power_consumption_per_basin_average|{{#expr: ({{Q|hydroponics basin|Power Consumption#}} + (((19.2-6 <!--6am to 7:12pm of 24 hours-->)/24) * {{Q|Sun lamp|Power Consumption#}}/24))*-1 round 0}}}}W of power on average, or {{#vardefineecho:power_consumption_per_basin_peak|{{#expr: ({{Q|hydroponics basin|Power Consumption#}} + ({{Q|Sun lamp|Power Consumption#}}/24))*-1 round 0}}}}W peak. This results in a theoretical net gain in energy of about {{#expr:({{#show:Chemfuel generator|?Power Consumption#}}*{{#var:chemfuel_per_basin_per_day}}/4.5)-{{#var:power_consumption_per_basin_average}} round 0}}W on average or {{#expr:({{#show:Chemfuel generator|?Power Consumption#}}*{{#var:chemfuel_per_basin_per_day}}/4.5)-{{#var:power_consumption_per_basin_peak}} round 0}}W peak per dedicated hydroponics basin.  While, the power draw of the refinery is not taken into account, it can be micro-managed if chemfuel is produced in batches, and will not play a big role in the overall economy.
-.6 generators are needed to power a full hydroponics setup, which will require ~21 chemfuel per day, or about 3 hydroponics basins.  This means that with 5 generators you can grow plants in ~20 hydroponics basins for free, with about 400W of power to spare during the day (3,300W during the night).
-Using batteries to catch the night-time excess power, the setup described will cover the food and energy needs of a medium-sized colony entirely (without having to resort to any other power sources).
+With adequate batteries to handle the day-night cycle of [[Sun lamp|sun lamps]], {{#expr:{{#vardefineecho:generators_needed_for_hydroponic_setup|{{#expr:24*{{#var:power_consumption_per_basin_average}}/{{#show:{{PAGENAME}}|?Power Consumption#}}}}}} round 1}} generators are needed to power a full hydroponics setup, which will require {{Icon Small|Chemfuel}} ~{{#expr:{{#var:generators_needed_for_hydroponic_setup}}*4.5 round 1}} chemfuel per day, or about {{#expr:{{#vardefineecho:chemfuel_dedicted_basins_needed|{{#expr:{{#var:generators_needed_for_hydroponic_setup}}*4.5/{{#var:chemfuel_per_basin_per_day}}}}}}round 1}} hydroponics basins dedicated to producing rice to turn into chemfuel.  This means that with {{#expr:ceil({{#var:generators_needed_for_hydroponic_setup}})}} generators, you can grow plants in {{#expr:floor(24 - {{#var:chemfuel_dedicted_basins_needed}})}} of the 24 hydroponics basins for free, with an average of {{#expr:(ceil({{#var:generators_needed_for_hydroponic_setup}}) - {{#var:generators_needed_for_hydroponic_setup}})*{{#show:{{PAGENAME}}|?Power Consumption#}}}}W of power spare. Note that this assumes 100% harvest efficiency - as harvest efficiency decreases at higher difficulties, the number of basins that must be dedicated to chemfuel production will increase in direct proportion.
-== Obtaining ==
+Corn can also be grown to feed chemfuel generators, with {{#expr:4.5*2/{{#show:Corn plant|?Harvest Yield Per Day (100)}} round 1}} tiles of [[corn plant]] in 100% fertility soil needed for each generator.
-Chemfuel powered generators can be constructed after you have completed [[research]] into Electricity.
-==History==
+== Version history ==
-Chemfuel powered generators were added in Beta 18.
+* [[Version/0.18.1722|0.18.1722]] - Added.
+* [[Version/1.1.0|1.1.0]] - Refueling is now toggleable.
 {{nav|power|wide}}
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