Chapter 320: Chapter 318 The Concept of the Energy Tower (Part 1)
Returning home, Chen Xin threw himself into the bathroom, soaking comfortably in the warm, large bathtub.
This room, designed as a bathroom, had nothing more than a bathtub occupying 80% of the space and two showerheads, allowing one to fully enjoy the pleasure and comfort of bathing.
The water in the bathtub was sourced from underground hot springs. Although the extreme cold weather affected the water temperature to some extent, with auxiliary heating, soaking in it was still incredibly comfortable.
Although each room in the shelter had its own shower facilities, bathing and soaking are two completely different things: one is merely cleaning the body, the other is a relaxation of body and mind.
Before the disaster, this might have been an ordinary thing, something most ordinary people could enjoy if they wanted.
But now, after the disaster, this is an undeniable luxury. Without sufficient resources, enjoying a bath is exceedingly difficult.
Previously in the city, while each shelter had better heating and enough hot water supply thanks to Chen Xin’s boiler improvements, survivors were only provided with hot showers, not baths.
Although from a therapeutic perspective, bathing has excellent effects on treating hypothermia and frostbite, the consumption for baths and showers is completely different.
After all, to save water and coal, the official shelter allowed hot showers, enabling survivors to have a warm wash, but with a time limit. Fifteen minutes was enough for a comfortable shower, but certainly not an indulgence.
Thinking of this, Chen Xin, soaking in the pool, couldn’t help but wonder if he should let Li Yulong set up a bathroom in his city shelter; perhaps many people would want to take a bath there?
However, this idea lingered briefly in his mind before he dismissed it. It’s not that it couldn’t be done; on the contrary, it’s too simple. It didn’t need his special attention, just a word to Li Yulong, who could handle it himself.
Nowadays, Chen Xin was focused more on helping the country’s post-disaster reconstruction and how to improve the survivors’ living conditions. He no longer had the energy for such trivial matters.
This was not because Chen Xin placed himself too high, nor was it some superhero fantasy of "great power comes with great responsibility." It was simply the plain principle of tending to oneself when poor and aiding the world when successful.
When one lacks capacity, taking care of oneself and one’s family is the goal; when one has capacity, one helps others to the best of their ability, which is neither hard to understand nor impossible to achieve.
Though in the apocalypse, survival has become more difficult, and everyone struggles to live, leaving little energy to help others. Some even become selfish, seizing others’ chances to survive for their own survival.
But for Chen Xin, he already lived well and could live better. Helping others live a bit better while living better himself wasn’t an issue.
Because he had that ability, and doing so cost him nothing.
Now, he had given the nation the exoskeleton protective suit blueprints, which could restore outdoor mobility for most people as the country organized production. The isotope thermoelectric battery production line was also completed and about to be operational; improved communication base stations had started construction before the blizzard, and the network’s spread was only a matter of time; and...
Counting things up, Chen Xin realized he had already done quite a lot and helped numerous people.
For instance, the two hundred thousand survivors in the city; without his help, a considerable number might have perished in the blizzard, and saving so many lives gave Chen Xin tremendous fulfillment.
Besides, for Chen Xin, enabling the country’s post-disaster recovery and restoring everything to pre-disaster conditions had a significant allure.
So now, he was pondering how to further improve the city’s living conditions and speed up post-disaster recovery.
The dome city idea discussed with researchers was undoubtedly a suitable choice, but the construction difficulty is too high and unrealistic.
Moreover, there are other methods to improve urban survival conditions.
Currently, the greatest challenge and difficulty facing survivors is the cold. If the temperature could be raised, many problems could be alleviated.
As for increasing temperature, the Energy Tower from the construction game "Frostpunk," which kept cities warm even in sub-hundred-degree temperatures, was clearly a good choice.
Though a science fiction concept, the Energy Tower is based on steam-era technology, making it feasible to replicate in reality.
However, even if replicated, an Energy Tower couldn’t heat an entire city; after all, it’s basically a giant boiler. Instead of just using a boiler, transporting steam or hot water through pipes is more efficient for heating.
This not only enhances heating efficiency but also the effectiveness; apart from people like Chen Xin who consider raising a whole area’s temperature, no one would think of the Energy Tower’s inefficient radial heating method.
Unless it doesn’t just generate heat by burning coal, but rather drives machinery to extract more heat from other sources.
This is indeed feasible, like the ground source heat pump Chen Xin used in his shelter, which, driven by electricity, uses a compressor and water pump to extract more heat from underground.
Thinking of this, Chen Xin recalled the game’s requirement of digging a deep foundation to build an Energy Tower, visualizing this as a viable plan.
First, dig a deep enough pit to reach deep layers, then by blowing air into the pit to create airflow, carry the deep layer’s geothermal heat to the surface, allowing significant thermal energy production with minimal energy consumption.
With enough thermal energy, whether for heating or power generation, the city’s condition can be significantly changed.
With this thought, Chen Xin gradually formed a construction plan centered on the Energy Tower.