BIA
Energy Generation & Storage
The Bia department is responsible for generating the energy necessary to power Augury, as well as storing and distributing that energy. Their services include maintaining power generators, wiring of buildings, transmission lines, machines, and related equipment. They may also be involved in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure.
Bia works closely with other Executive departments to provide the energy they need to run their equipment and provide power to some of the most crucial appliances: heating, water filtration, air filtration, and lights. Every department needs electricity to keep Augury running as a habitable environment. Even the core structure of the buildings themselves use power to maintain mineralization.
There's no room in a closed system like Augury for exhaust fumes, so all forms of energy generation must be clean and green, and all waste byproducts captured and reused. Nuclear fuel (like thorium salts) can be captured in a Stirling engine and used in conjunction with cold ocean water to produce reliable energy over a long period. Bia's energy production facilities should be so well-designed and automated that they could keep the city power running for decades even if they were entirely abandoned—decreasing in efficiency over time, but still functional.
An eligible candidate to head Bia would be an electrical engineer, electrician, or another individual with relevant proficiency and qualification. The Bia department will employ a team of any combination of electricians, electrical engineers, installers, technicians, and linemen as necessary.
Step 1; Bia Phase 1: Power Generation
Site Selection
The average depth of the ocean is over two miles deep, where the water pressure is well over 300 times the air pressure at sea level. The pressure alone makes the environment unsuitable for long-term human habitation, not only due to the extra forces exerted on structures, but for the effect of hyperbaric pressure on human physiology. Closer to the shore, in a gently sloping area called the continental shelf or sublittoral zone, the average depth is around 200 feet. An ideal site to build Augury will be anywhere from 80-120 feet deep, where the ocean pressure is only around 3-4 times the air pressure at sea level. This amount of water pressure is in the same range to what we expect to come out of our shower; offshore oil platforms are built far deeper than this. Still, even at relatively shallow water, building an air-tight structure underwater is no easy feat. So instead—we grow it.
Using a patented technology called Biorock (which will be explained further in Step II), the exterior structure of Augury can be grown as a self-healing, monolithic, limestone-adjacent structure with nothing more than an electric current and a metal frame. Though the Biorock process works in any mineral-water solution, a few factors may contribute to greater success. The Atlantic ocean has several advantages— as the saltiest of the ocean basins, it will make mineral aggregation the easiest. Proximity to the American mainland, undersea communication cables, and transatlantic shipping lanes between America, Africa, and Europe will also prove beneficial. For construction and emergency purposes, it would be inadvisable to build Augury more than 20-30 miles away from a populated landmass. Access to American infrastructure and industry will likely be necessary for a few decades until Augury becomes self-sustaining—but interaction with the American economy will likely always be in demand. There are many other factors, some of which may have not even occurred to me, which will influence the suitability of a construction site for Augury. To the best of my knowledge and research, an optimal site will be 12-15 miles off the American coast. The continental shelf off the coasts of Florida up to South Carolina is especially wide, and proximity to Atlanta, Georgia (which hosts the busiest airport in the world) may prove beneficial. This site boasts warm, subtropical waters, and strong currents. Alternatively, the coast of Bermuda shows promise—an established community with a tourism industry, closer to the middle of the ocean and more out of the path of hurricanes, and a smaller local government could make sovereignty easier. Various locations in the Gulf of Mexico could also work, but would be less conducive to international travel, and the Atlantic Ocean is most optimal for Biorock mineral aggregation as it is the saltiest. The site will also need to be at least 12 nautical miles off the coast of any established nation to avoid territorial seas. Unfortunately, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of any established nation can extend 200 nautical miles from the coast, which may be inevitable if this zone entirely consumes the continental shelf. If construction on the continental shelf proves impossible or greater isolation is needed for some reason, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (a huge underwater mountain range in the world, situated in the middle of the Atlantic ocean) has peaks tall enough that Augury could be constructed atop in shallow enough water to escape pressure concerns. These regions would be squarely in the high seas, and thus entirely free from any claims from an existing country. However, most of the higher peaks will be near the existing islands, which include Iceland, the Azores, St. Paul’s Rock, Ascension Island, St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island, and Bouvet Island.
Wave Power
The first and most crucial step is to arrange some flow of power. The ocean is massive, and in constant motion due to wind, tectonic activity, and the gravitational pull of the moon. As these are all renewable resources, with proper equipment, we should be able to set up a reliable power source via several methods. Engineers around the world are currently looking into harvesting wave power, and over time their endeavors grow only more efficient. There are many different forms of wave power generators, each of which specializes in a different type of wave or terrain or depth.
Using these types of generators, we can generate enough power to induce mineral aggregation.
Step 5; Bia Phase 2: Wiring & Lighting
Due to the enclosed environment, the people of Augury won’t be able to use combustible fuels of any kind. The only power source will be electrical. Before main interior structure construction begins, the entire structure should be wired thoroughly for electricity. As with all utilities, electrical wiring should be designed for longevity and ease of upkeep/maintenance (even at the expense of some aesthetic). Use of 12 gauge wire over the typical 14 should be standard for 15-20 amp circuits, to reduce risk of electrical fire. Spaces designed for industrial facilities will need to be wired with higher amp circuits, but even residential and public areas should have high-amp circuits installed periodically to run specialized machines as needed. Outlets in general should be plentiful, covered, and equipped with ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) in case of water exposure.
If central utility shafts (as mentioned in Step II, Hestia Phase 1) have been established, main wiring and breaker panels can be wired through them for easy maintenance.
Lighting
Many high-capacity facilities are outfitted with fluorescent or LED lighting for efficiency and cost reduction. However, these lighting types come with their side effects—strangely enough, their spectrum of blue light emissions adversely affect our mitochondria, reducing our ability to produce cellular energy. Citizens may use whatever light they please in their homes, of course, but public areas and government facilities should include overhead lighting in the warmer end of the visible light spectrum. In general, using sunlight-imitative LED lighting (designed, as always, with longevity and maintenance in mind) will be better for our health. Some manufacturers are able to use full-spectrum LEDs and nanostructure filters to produce artificial light indistinguishable from sunlight. If/when practical, skylights or systems of fiber optics should bring real sunlight down from the surface.
Use of lighting does have an effect on mental state, which will be described in greater detail on the Mentality Page: Mental, Emotional, & Social Health: Sensory Overload. Cool-spectrum lighting should be used only during the day and from high overhead; otherwise, amber and gold-toned warm lighting at or near eye level should be preferred for its calming effects. Exposure to blue light from cool-spectrum lighting must be minimized, as it causes a number of adverse effects including increased cell deaths and mitochondrial stress.
In case of emergency power failures, lighting systems which use saltwater and ionization of magnesium (like the product WaterLight) should be installed.
Step 10; Bia Phase 3: Primary Power Plant
Though wave power is plentiful, our current technology is relatively inefficient at harvesting it—not to mention that wave power requires significant facilities for energy storage, to balance calm days and stormy days. Additionally, biofouling and the harsh environment of the ocean makes maintenance difficult. It is unlikely that wave power will be a viable power source for an entire city. Once the main facility of Augury is set up and liveable, we can pursue another, superior power source: nuclear.
I feel the need now to devote a paragraph in defense of nuclear power, to ward off any visions of mushroom clouds, fallout shelters, and radioactive mutants. Despite certain historical events, “nuclear power is a much safer energy source than fossil fuels.” In the past, poor regulation and negligence led to environmental disasters like those at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. This, combined with propaganda and the nuclear threat of the Cold War, has turned public opinion against nuclear power. But I would posit, handled responsibly, nuclear power is our best source of energy on earth. I could continue in defense of nuclear fission reactors, but for Augury, I propose harnessing nuclear energy from an even simpler source: nuclear decay heat.
Nuclear Decay Heat
Augury should never manufacture nuclear weapons nor ever maintain a nuclear weapon stockpile. Any weapons manufacturing and stockpiling should be exclusively for the sake of defense.
Here are a few facts. Radioactive material is abundant on Earth. In fact, radioactive isotopes account for about half of the Earth’s internal heat. Nuclear waste is also abundant—“more than a quarter million metric tons of highly radioactive waste sits in storage near nuclear power plants and weapons production facilities worldwide, with over 90,000 metric tons in the US alone.” Furthermore, nuclear waste doesn’t just come from nuclear reactors, because coal ash is also radioactive because it’s full of thorium, uranium, and radon. That nuclear waste sits in storage facilities, usually underground in a desert, guarded by haunting signs to warn future generations of the ongoing danger. That fuel will remain radioactive—and thermally hot— for anywhere from a few decades to thousands of years. If not actively cooled, the decay heat of radioactive waste grows “hotter and hotter as more and more heat is [generated], so the temperature will rise higher and higher…like a furnace that just never stops burning. So there is really no limit as to how hot the surroundings can get if that heat is allowed to keep building up.” If that just sounds scary, you’re not seeing the possibilities. We have in our possession a material that emits limitless heat without input energy or fuel for incomparably long periods of time. This material is extremely dangerous if not contained, of course, but if it were properly contained, that heat could be used as a massive, scaleable, reliable power source. With layered containment of combined materials like glass, concrete, lead, and steel, and insulated with a vacuum layer and materials like aerogel, with redundant sensors, failsafes, and emergency procedures, we could have as close to a perpetual engine as humanity is capable of creating. Nuclear and mechanical engineers will be necessary to design the generator properly—but consider this endless heat source powering a simple steam turbine (which we use to power our cities on land, heated by fossil fuels). Molten Thorium Salt Reactors are also becoming a safe viable alternative use for radioactive material. Or, if efficiency allows, we can consider harnessing another plentiful resource of the ocean and use water’s unusually high heat capacity to produce a thermal gradient with the fuel and drive a Stirling engine.
Stirling Engine
Invented by Robert Stirling in 1816, a Stirling engine uses the “Stirling cycle,” which harnesses motion from a temperature gradient between a heat source and a heat sink, with a regenerator in the middle to balance forces. They have the highest theoretical efficiency of any thermal engine but…a low output power to weight ratio, therefore Stirling engines of practical output tend to be large. Stirling engines are slow to start (irrelevant, if we intend to have it constantly running) but have many advantages: A Stirling engine is a closed system, so the gasses used inside never leave the pistons. There are no exhaust valves and no explosions taking place, which makes them much safer than a combustion engine. The gasses inside the engine don’t even need to be much higher pressure than standard, so lighter metals like aluminum can be used, and there’s no risk of explosion. They are mechanically simple, and therefore easy to repair and maintain. They produce very little noise and vibration, so they will not disturb citizens or ocean life. Stirling engines also boast a relatively high thermal efficiency—usually around 40%. Using nuclear waste as fuel also means the generator will very infrequently need refueling.
Stirling engines do have drawbacks—most conspicuously, relatively low power output. To maximize efficiency, I would recommend using a variation of a model I’ve seen sold as a desk toy which uses a total of sixteen pistons (eight hot and eight cold) per engine, connected to a central oblique disk at one end of the driveshaft. Six to eight of these engines could be arranged radially around a central heat source, each extending to an alternator to balance the system load. Another concern is efficiency losses through friction—consider using magnetic repulsion suspension if possible to reduce this. Consider also incorporating a massive flywheel (also to be used as a form of transportation?) to stabilize the momentum of the engine.
Nuclear heat has been used for decades to power “radioisotope thermoelectric generators,” which use thermocouples to make “lightweight, compact spacecraft power systems that are extraordinarily reliable” for space travel. But where thermocouples have an average energy efficiency of 3%-8%, heat engines like the Stirling can achieve 30%-50%. With nuclear decay heat as the heat source and cold ocean water as the heat sink (and minimized friction), a huge, multi-cylinder Stirling engine could run smoothly and consistently over a long period and fulfill the power demands of an entire city with infrequent need for intervention. A flywheel or similar mechanism could be used to store and balance rotational energy. Automation from Minerva could reduce the need for maintenance even further by automatically scheduling replacements of parts, performing simple maintenance, and reapplying lubricants when needed.
Iron Powder
While trying to set fire to an iron ingot would be more trouble than it’s worth, fine iron powder mixed with air is highly combustible. When this mixture burns, the iron oxidizes and releases energy. While carbon fuel will oxidize into carbon dioxide, iron fuel oxidizes into ferric oxide, which is just rust. Rust can be captured post-combustion and is the only byproduct of the reaction. Iron has a greater energy density than gasoline but is much heavier, so while unsuitable for vehicles or individual homes, it's a (non-radioactive) viable option for renewable energy.
Gravity Battery
With such power sources, on some days the electrical grid will not consume as much energy as it produces. In this case, excess power needs to be stored. I propose the use of gravity batteries as power storage. Gravity batteries operate on a simple concept: a weight is attached to a pulley system of some height. Excess power is used to pull the weight up into a position of greater potential kinetic energy. When energy needs to be released, the weight is released, and the kinetic motion of turning the pulley is converted back to electrical energy. This process is one of the most efficient means of power storage, mechanically simple, and especially effective in the context of the ocean, as a weight can be lowered down the slope of a continental shelf like an anchor for massive storage potential. This will ensure that Augury has plenty of power in case of an emergency or unexpected load on the system. Excess energy can also be directed into energizing and mineralizing new structures.
