I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 74: Energy Issues Brought by Oxygen Deficiency

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Energy Issues Brought by Oxygen Deficiency

Upon learning about the potential oxygen problem, Chen Xin paid much more attention to his planting greenhouse.

It was no longer just a place to provide him with food; it was also essential for supplying him with the oxygen necessary for survival.

If a person doesn’t eat, they can survive for about seven days, and if they don’t drink water, they might last three days.

But if a person stops breathing, they would be gone within ten minutes.

The importance of oxygen is undisputed, and naturally, the importance of a greenhouse capable of providing oxygen has significantly increased.

Fortunately, Chen Xin had already upgraded his planting greenhouse once before. Now, not only has the planting area increased, but the number and efficiency of the supplemental lights have also improved considerably.

As long as the operation of the greenhouse could be maintained, even if the outside world truly ran out of oxygen, the greenhouse would suffice to provide him with the oxygen necessary for survival.

However, this doesn’t mean there aren’t any hidden dangers, nor does it mean that Chen Xin has no worries simply because he has a greenhouse.

Relying solely on photosynthesis to maintain the oxygen cycle in an enclosed space is an experiment that has been done before. Indeed, years ago, the Federation even conducted a famous Biodome 2 experiment intending to create a self-sustaining ecosystem.

Regrettably, these experiments were all failures.

In a closed environment, while plants can certainly provide enough oxygen, that is contingent upon adequate lighting.

Once night falls and photosynthesis stops, the oxygen required for the plants’ own respiration and for human respiration will quickly deplete the limited oxygen in the enclosed space.

Not only can a closed environment not maintain such an oxygen cycle, but even the Federation’s multi-million-dollar investment in the Ecobiosphere 2 experiment, with its comprehensive artificial ecosystem, failed to accomplish this.

In the Ecobiosphere 2 experiment, bacteria breaking down organic matter in the soil consumed large amounts of oxygen, while the released carbon dioxide would be absorbed by the cement in the building, disrupting the oxygen cycle and causing the oxygen content in the air to drop, insufficient for human survival.

Of course, solving this problem is quite simple.

In a natural environment, due to the difference between day and night, plants cannot sustain 24-hour continuous photosynthesis. Additionally, plants themselves need oxygen for respiration, and naturally, cannot maintain the oxygen cycle in a closed environment.

But in a non-natural environment, this problem is actually not difficult to solve, and that is to use supplemental lights to provide plants with uninterrupted 24-hour lighting, prompting them to maintain continuous photosynthesis.

If plants conduct photosynthesis continuously for 24 hours, the oxygen provided, aside from their own respiration, can also meet the survival needs of the humans cohabitating.

However, this greatly increases energy consumption.

This is not pre-catastrophe, when the sun, an almost infinite large-scale sustainable energy source, constantly provided the Earth with light and heat.

Before the dust clouds blocked sunlight, people could rely on the abundant energy it provided, whether for photosynthesis or solar power generation, without the need for additional energy input.

But now that humanity has lost sunlight, they can only rely on the energy provided by the Earth itself.

Coal and oil, some of the most valuable resources provided by the Earth, are also the main ways humans currently obtain energy.

For post-apocalyptic humans, these two conventional energy sources have become crucial for guaranteeing human survival.

Especially coal resources, whether for heating or power generation, are essential as they are convenient and easy to extract.

However, for Chen Xin and his bunker, they currently mainly use gasoline.

Just maintaining 24-hour continuous lighting to ensure the greenhouse’s oxygen production significantly increases gasoline consumption for power generation.

It’s not that Chen Xin doesn’t want to use the more efficient and reliable diesel, but diesel solidifies at temperatures below zero, making it inconvenient to use.

Although high-grade diesel can solve this problem, its price is indeed quite high compared to regular gasoline.

Even with -35 grade diesel, it can only be used between -14°C to 29°C. Compared to regular gasoline’s freezing point at -35°C, the advantage isn’t obvious.

As for even higher-grade -50 grade diesel, aside from the issue of where to buy such high-grade diesel, its price is much higher than regular gasoline.

Initially, when Chen Xin first entered the bunker, he only needed to consume 10 liters of gasoline a day for power generation to meet all his electricity needs. After upgrading the greenhouse, his daily fuel consumption is now 20 liters, and due to the system upgrade providing -10% lighting time, only about 12 hours of daily lighting is needed for the plants.

Now, if the greenhouse is to maintain lighting for 24 hours, fuel consumption will soar to twice the current amount, which means Chen Xin would need to consume up to 40 liters of gasoline a day.

This means that the gasoline Chen Xin initially planned to use for a year might only last for three months.

Moreover, continuous long-term use of the generator will also wear it down, accelerating its damage.

"It’s time to upgrade the power system," Chen Xin rubbed his forehead, calculating his gasoline consumption and determining that he must upgrade the bunker’s power system.

Otherwise, unless he could continuously obtain a large amount of gasoline from the special task force to sustain consumption, he would face the situation of running out of gasoline.

But how should the power system be upgraded? Simply increasing the generator’s output power is meaningless, because energy is conserved, and increasing output power only means consuming more fuel.

Improving the efficiency of the generator is a feasible method, but its effect would be limited. After all, saving 5%-10% of energy sounds like a lot, but in terms of actual consumption, it only delays the day when fuel runs out by a few days.

So the most suitable way is to let the bunker be self-sustaining, balancing energy consumption and output to create a cycle.

Thinking about this, Chen Xin naturally recalled the algae-based oxygen generator he mentioned to Mo Qingyan.

This system can produce oxygen and algae biomass, not only providing oxygen but also producing biogas for powering the fuel cells. It requires the consumption of electric energy, water, and carbon dioxide.

Since Chen Xin can now draw groundwater, water resources are no longer an issue, and the consumption of water resources needed for cultivating algae is not significant, plus it can be recycled, so he is not worried about water resource issues.

As for carbon dioxide, once the system is operational, it can entirely supply the algae’s photosynthesis needs by collecting carbon dioxide produced during biogas combustion. If that’s not enough, the carbon dioxide from the air is also a supplement.

After all, Chen Xin’s bunker is not a completely enclosed ecological experiment cabin and can fully utilize external resources to replenish consumption.

The only problem remains energy consumption.

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