Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Rigorous Science

What power generation method is the best to sustain a hovering city?

+0
−0

The Technology

We're in the year 2250 on an Earth-like planet. All the space on the earth's surface has been used up by the population of 15 billion, so we're moving into the air. Cities, along with all the farming and other capabilities they need to thrive, are being built on hovering platforms.

The Situation

The construction project is almost complete. Wiring, services, roads, buildings, all have been put into place. There's just one thing left to go in: something on the end of the wires to squirt power juice down them. And nobody can decide what to use.

Supplies

This hovering city will come over another major city once approximately every six months. The city has batteries: total capacity 4GAh. At this point, cables and pipes are dropped, and supplies and power can be sent up to the city. After 24 hours, it disconnects again and moves on.

The Question

What power source is the best to plug into the end of the wires? It has to satisfy the following conditions:

  • Sustain a city the size of London (7 million people) for 6 months at a time without refuelling.
  • Can supply the city with a deficit of 4GAh over the six months; the deficit will be made up by the batteries.
  • BONUS: Can keep the city hovering indefinitely.

I have tagged this because I am looking for a numerical comparison of power sources, since that is the only way I see to qualify a "best" power source to avoid this being too subjective.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

0 comment threads

1 answer

+0
−0

This is a supplement to @SF.'s answer just because.

Atmospheric electricity can be used to provide you some power, and technically could be done even without a space elevator.

In 'fine weather', the potential, aka 'voltage', increases with altitude at about 30 volts per foot (100 V/m), when climbing against the gradient of the electric field.[3] This electric field gradient continues up into the atmosphere to a point where the voltage reaches its maximum, in the neighborhood of 300,000 volts. This occurs at approximately 30"“50 km above the Earth's surface.

You could also put some capacitors and stuff to capture the lightning strikes that would be attracted by this giant structure too for a quick power boost.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »