1. Troy’s Energy Dreamland, where the problem is, what do we do with all the energy?
To achieve this dream, we must recapture the majority of our waste heat and generate power from it.
Then, each day’s sunlight will contribute to our power balance. It’s not that complicated to imagine, but
difficult to imagine us building it.
We can use turbines to convert wind energy into electricity, and we can use sails and building patterns
to focus airflow within the urban environment up to harvest levels. The waste heat causes air to expand
and become lighter, and creates convection. The heavier air at lower temperatures sinks below the
lighter air, and fills the spaces previously occupied by the heated air. In a city, where air heats over a
large area, this can create winds rather than small cycles.
If we generate energy from the wind created by our waste heat, we are effectively able to use our
energy again. If our waste heat is generated from power that was harvested from this wind, then we
have completed a loop, and have managed to contain energy within the urban environment. Not all heat
in a city is from energy use, however, some is from the daily sunshine. This means that in addition to our
waste heat, we will also harvest solar power.
It is unlikely that we will be able to contain our full energy waste, although if we are able to contain the
combination of sunshine and waste such that we harvest more than we consumed, we have managed to
increase our energy potential, and over time, we will have a different problem than we do today.
Where will we store this energy?