Editing Chemfuel powered generator

| name = Chemfuel powered generator

| image = Chemfuel_powered_generator.png|128px

| description = Produces power by consuming chemfuel. Must be periodically refueled by hand.

| type = Building

| type2 = Power

| placeable = true

| path cost = 50

| passability = pass through only

| blockswind = true

| cover = 1

| minifiable = false

| size = 2 ˣ 2

| flammability = 1

| 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

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.  

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.

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:

*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 ===

 

 

 

 

=== Growing plants for fuel ===

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

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.

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.

* [[Version/0.18.1722|0.18.1722]] - Added.