Atlas City Project

Lets be realistic about this. We cannot afford to rely on conspiratorial or theoretical sources of power for our city. I hear a lot of people saying that Money is not a problem in a rsbe. But in reality we are not in a rsbe yet, so money is a very real problem. I am all for inventing and encouraging the growth of new technology. but if we ever want this project to be a success we need to take a step back and figure out what we really can achieve with our limited resources.

We know that geothermal is the most promising and proven power source currently available to us, but it is probably one of the more expensive. However I think it is probably our only real viable option for power.

We cannot afford to wait on conspiratorial or theoretical sources. Geothermal would provide us with all the power we need.

I wonder starting with solar PV would be a good starting point, on the basis that one can start with just a single cheap panel and add more as ones funds increase.

Later on one might consider wood burning for electricity generation, making use of fast growing coppicing methods. (Probably not likely at first as the land one will buy will no doubt come without trees.)

I also imagine there will be a big demand for diesel as well, to power earth moving equipment and generators.

Seriously, have a gymnasium with all the machines linked to generators, as the citizens work out they will be generating some of the power the city needs.

If you are building in a hot location, you could use the sun to turn water into steam to generate power, purify water and treat sewage.

Keep in mind that solar also has the cost of the batteries and transformers for stepping up the power and converting it to DC.

Batteries are not cheep and also are very polluting if you don't dispose of them properly.

I am personally not fond of using diesel or wood, but to start it would not be a bad idea to use solar during the day and if we need extra power we could resort to wood or diesel. Oh and yes, every little bit of power matters so gym generators would give back some power

Currently, the residential housing is designed using solar and wind to power all residential power (theoretically). It's based of Earthships and they have done if independently for decades. If we use modern technology and techniques we can make them much more efficient.

Geothermal has been one of the more promising for city wide power, especially considering where the city may be built.

In the end, it is likely people in the first stages of the city will just need to get use to living a life of less power waste.

i mean, i appreciate your post.

obviously we need to plan to use real sources of power which will work at all hours of the day, in some form or another, or else the city wont work

I hear the cheapest way of storing power is pumped water, and as we need water anyhow, one might be able to combine water storage and energy storage together.
(With perhaps backup diesel generators for if we run out of water!)

Canals are an appealing aspect, though perhaps less suitable for desert conditions due to water loss issues, unless perhaps they are underground..

(Tries to dig up a reference to an underground canal system thousands of years old someplace in the world..)

yes i agree for sure that pumping wter up hill to a dam is the best. Many electric companies do it now and its a fantastic storage medium.

the other is CHP. Basically use heat to make hot water and electricity. The thing i like about it is that you can use MANY fuel soruces:
1. Solar thermal
2. Solar PV
3. Biomass
4. Oil.

You can combine the fuel sources too very easily.

In sweden these are everywhere in each suburb and owned by the local community. District Heating. Its very ecconomical too from my basic calculations for initial build costs and running costs.

Using LED lighting is said to use 90% less electricity but a little more expensive up front.