Renewable Energy Mod

[krauter]

An old idea (posting from April 2000) should now become finally a reality - we want to create a mod to
implement renewables, anyone who is interrested should join us:

As an university professor on that field, I would like to empathize the use of renewable energies in CIV.
While other technologies are discussed quite deeply, the use of renewables in CIV (esp. solar and wind) was superficial. Power output of renewables is depending on much more external parameters than conventional power plants and should be considered in the game; as:
- local ground surface, distance from coast, latitude (most wind in the 40s)
- local climate, temperature, shadowing (solar; some basic ideas have been realized in SMAC, nice !)
- water resources, height of mountains (hydro power)
- The different properties of solar thermal (works good at high ambient temperatures) and photovoltiac systems (generates electricity directly, works best in cold, but sunny climates) should be considered.

While renewable energy is the only energy option in the future (whether fusion will really take off, nobody knows) some more attention should be paid.

Additionally renewable energy should also have some impact on politics and social structure:
less pollution (less angry people),
less dependence from import of fuels (no trade need for coal and oil)

Due to limits in resources, conventional energy should get more expensive within time, while costs of renewables should get cheaper due to technology advances.

more come ...

[krauter]

Here are some suggestions for renewable and conventional energy sources in the mod:

Coal mining:
costs for maintenance are increasing by time (longer and deeper mines) from to 2 to 4 shields. After 100 years of operation resource of coal mine is finished.

Use of energy generated by coal
is generating 100 % pollution (25 % after the invention of air filters). Pollution is causing some amount of unhappiness. Earthquake kills some units of population (miners).
Building costs are 100 shields. Production is 25 per year. Lifetime of coalmine is 100 years. Lifetime of a coal power plant is 30 years. Recover from recycling: 7.

Hydropower:
Only possible near rivers and lakes: mountains 200 % energy production, but cost also 100 % more to built. Hills: 100% energy production, flat land: 50 % energy production, big rivers are doubling energy production. Due to climatic changes production of hydro power can vary (e.g. more rainfall: small rivers get to big rivers and double energy production, in dry periods big rivers get to small rivers, under extreme conditions desertification can make power production impossible, earthquakes can cause flooding within the surrounding, lower squares (1-2 squares for hydro power plants built in hilly regions, 2-4 squares for power plants build in mountain regions). Maintenance costs are 1 shield.
Building costs are 200 shields. Production is 25. Lifetime is 40 years. Recover from recycling: 25.

Wind:
Works best in coastal areas: 200% energy generation, deserts are generally calm (50%). Sole hills and single mountains give 200% power production. Valleys are bad (30 %). Regions a bit away from the poles produce 150% of power (“roaring forties”). Hills, wood, other wind turbines and close obstacles (next square) reduce power (70 %). Maintenance is 2, in stormy areas (e.g. mountains 3). Building costs are 50 shields, generation is 10. Earthquakes could lead to total destruction in 50% of the cases. Floods do not interfere. Wind generators bulked directly near town squares may cause some unhappiness (noise).
Lifetime is 15-20 years. Recover from recycling 7 shields.

SOLAR ENERGY: General:
Irradiated solar energy onto Earth is gradually increasing from 700 kWh/sqm per year in Polar Regions to 2200 kWh/sqm per year in regions close to the equator – that results in triple energy production!

Solar thermal power plants:
Work best in sunny and warm places (deserts): Energy production is 70% from standard near the poles; near equator is 200%. Desert gives an additional increase of 20%. Humid areas produce 20% less.
Construction of plants in woods and valleys decreases power by 25 % due to shadowing. Building costs are 200 shields. Power generation is 25. Maintenance costs are 2 shields. Earthquake and flooding decrease power production by 50%. Lifetime is 25 years. Recover from recycling: 100.

Photovoltaics:
Energy production in Polar Regions is 70 % from standard; near equator is 200%. Deserts give a 15% minus (heat is decreasing the voltage of solar cells). Hills give a 10% plus (cooler, increases voltage). Mountains give a 15% extra in power production. Costs to build in mountain areas are double.
Construction of plants in woods and valleys decreases power by 25% due to shadowing.
Maintenance costs are 1 shield. Building costs are 320 shields, after the invention of Thin Film Semiconductor Technology: 180 shields. Power generation is 25. Earthquakes and flooding do not harm (solar cells even work in space).
Lifetime is 30 years. Recover from recycling: 200, for Thin Film Technology: 100.

Nuclear:
Power generation is 25, works for 35 years, costs 180, maintenance is 3. Nuclear power causes unhappiness and may cause scandals, especially when a university town is close by. Possibility of an accident. Vulnerable to military attack and earthquakes (radiation kills in 4 squares around). Nuclear waste has to be watched by a military unit for 12000 time units. One square is sufficient for 10 years of nuclear waste. The reactor itself has to be treated as a nuclear waste square after the end of its lifetime. Recover from recycling: -40 (reactor has to be sealed).

I tried to model it as realistic as possible, but in order keep it playable, we also could use infinite lifetime
for the power plants.

next item will be biomass...

[krauter]

Biomass:

Energy from biomass can be generated from three sources:

1. Agriculture:

1.1 A part of agriculture waste can be transformed into energy: having a biogas plant in a city is giving one energy unit for each two farming products.

1.2 Also farming could be directly used to produce energy: Instead of food, energy in the harvest: e.g. sugarcane can be distilled to alcohol which serves as fuel for cars (1990 60% of the cars in Brazil had been running on that) while also the waste could be used, I suggest an efficiency of 150% compared to food production.

2. Waste
Waste and pollution production in a city with a biomass plant is sinking by 50%, 25% of the original produced waste and pollution can be transformed into energy.


3. Woods
Waste directly form the woods (dead trees) and indirectly in the city (e.g. from carpenters etc. ) can be transformed into energy. For each two shields produced in a wood, one energy unit is generated.

I suggest a cost to erect a biomass plant of about 60 shields, a maintenance cost of 2, and an energy production as shown above.

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Geothermal energy:

Suggestion for a geothermal power plant:
Power generation 8-20 (depending on location), building costs 80, maintenance 1-2,
Slow decrease of power generation due to limit of heat transfer and local cooling of the sediments (-1 every 5 years). While most often geothermal potential is close to earthquake regions, I suggest an increased risk of earthquakes (+300%) there.

__________________________________

[Zuul]

Ver nice stuff. Though by sheilds I guess you mean hammers now in Civ4. And there is no mountain you can use. Maybe if someone added low mountains that are simular to mountains in previous Civs.

[krauter]

thats right, we should adapt it adequately

is there anyone out there who is familiar with the new mod editor ?
I will try to get some funding to carry out that task ...

[krauter]

by the way - there is a discussion on renewabales at

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131234

[Mylon]

Looks to be a little too much detail for me. I'd just be happy with solar power plant building at, say, twice the cost of hydro power, but no drawbacks.

Renewable energy is something that needs to be considered, but this is just a game. Save the real detail for solving real problems.

[krauter]

..but we can use the mod to educate young people on renewables:
Today a few people read books, more like follow a movie on a subject, and most want to involved such as in an interactive game - so they get the look & feel how things work (or not), learn something, and have fun.

[Tiberius]

I definitely agree that the game can be used to educate kids, thus I applaud your effort to bring renewables into civ.

That being said, you will have to come up with a simple model, something that can be easily implemented and also doesn't add additional micromanagement. Don't forget, it has to be fun as well, otherwise no one will play it

Unfortunatey I don't really have time for modding, I am happy if I figure it out how to modify the strength of some units So my contribution at this point is zero; I wanted only to give some advice and to encourage you to continue your effort.

What I can promise, is that I will think over your ideas and I will try to come up with a more civ-like model of what you want.

[Mylon]

Here are some ideas:

Make 3 different solar power plants: One buildable between 0-30 lattitude, one between 30-60 lattitude, and one between 60-90 lattitude. Each of the three plants are exclusive and provide an industry bonus depending on the type. The 0-30 lattitude ones are obviously most productive, 30-60 coming in second. The Civilopedia article can contain in depth information about solar power.

[Optimizer]

Thanks for the great overview, krauter!

The problem with most modern power technologies is that you will hardly have time to build them before the space race is finished.

One thing I miss in Civ 4 (and the previous Civ games) is gasometers. During the 19th and early 20th century, many cities had enormous gas generation systems - which were made obsolete by electric power, but remained since they were such a great investment.

[Impaler[WrG]]

You forgot Oil and Gass fired power plants which today make up as significant part of our total energy production.

What I would include

Mod the Hydro plant to require a river (belive their is a simple boolean that will do this)

Include the Solar plant from Lost Wonders, restrict it to a Maximum Latitude of 45 degrees

Make a new powerplant "Turbine Power Plant" that gives power with access to Oil and produces only 1-2 sick face

Incresse sickfaces on Coal powerplant to 4

And if were ambitious

Add a Natural Gass resorce to the game accessed basicaly the same as Oil and make it an option for the Turbine Power Plant.

[Indon]

For Wind power, you could add a "Wind Farm" improvement that, rather than adding power, simply adds an additional +1 Production to every windmill in the city radius.

This makes wind power less of an industrial solution (as it would not provide power to a factory, but simply add to production a set amount), and allows mines to produce more hammers by building a plant that does provide power (the Wind Farm strikes me as needing to be mutually exclusive with power plants; otherwise, mines would be rendered completely obsolete in the late game).

It'd be good for hilly nations who want high trade without losing much production.

...and having seen the wind farms in West Texas I can confidently say that wind power does not neccessarily work best on the coast.

[zombielordzero]

i wonder if an improvement could have an upgrade? aka:
windmills upgrade into windfarm

[samspock]

How about this one: A Biodiesel Plant to make fuel for railroads when you don't have coal. It would use some of the food from the city to produce it.