After learning that there would be oxygen problems, Chen Xin became particularly concerned about his own planting greenhouse.
This place not only provides him with food, but also provides him with the oxygen necessary for survival.
If a person does not eat, he will die in about seven days, and if he does not drink water, he can survive for about three days.
But if a person does not breathe, he will be dead within ten minutes.
The importance of oxygen does not need to be emphasized, and the importance of a greenhouse that can naturally provide oxygen is greatly increased.
Fortunately, Chen Xin has upgraded his greenhouse before. Not only has the planting area increased, but the number and efficiency of fill lights have also improved a lot.
As long as the greenhouse can be kept running, even if the outside world is cut off from oxygen, the greenhouse will be enough to provide him with the oxygen he needs to survive.
But this is not without hidden dangers, and Chen Xin does not have no worries after having a greenhouse.
Relying solely on the photosynthesis of plants to maintain oxygen circulation in a confined space, this kind of experiment has been done for a long time. The Federation even conducted a famous Biosphere 2 experiment back then, with the intention of building a self-sustaining ecosystem.
Sadly, these experiments failed.
Plants in a closed environment can indeed provide enough oxygen, but only if there is sufficient light.
Once it enters the dark night, photosynthesis stops, and the oxygen required by the plants themselves for respiration and the oxygen required by humans for respiration will soon exhaust the limited oxygen in the confined space.
Not only is it impossible to maintain such an oxygen cycle in a confined space, but even the EcoSphere Laboratory No. 2, which the federal government invested hundreds of millions of dollars to build, has a complete artificial ecosystem, cannot do the same thing.
In the Ecosystem 2 experiment, bacteria decomposing organic matter in the soil consumes a large amount of oxygen, and the released carbon dioxide is absorbed by the cement in the building, breaking the oxygen cycle and causing the oxygen content in the air to drop, making it unable to sustain human survival needs. .
Of course, the solution to this problem is also very simple.
Because of the difference between day and night in the natural environment, plants cannot maintain 24-hour uninterrupted photosynthesis. In addition, plants themselves need to consume oxygen for respiration, so naturally they cannot maintain oxygen circulation in a confined space.
But in an unnatural environment, this problem is actually not difficult to solve. That is to use fill lights to provide 24 hours of uninterrupted light for plants to promote uninterrupted photosynthesis.
If a plant carries out photosynthesis 24 hours a day, the oxygen it provides will not only be used for its own respiration, but also for the survival needs of humans living together.
But in this way, the energy consumption is greatly increased.
This is not before the disaster. The sun, a nearly unlimited super-large sustainable energy source, provides the earth with a steady stream of light and heat.
Before dust clouds blocked sunlight, people could rely on the sun to enjoy the abundant energy it brought, whether it was photosynthesis or solar power generation, which did not require additional energy investment.
But now that humans have lost sunlight, they can only rely on the energy provided by the earth itself.
Coal and oil are the most precious resources that the earth provides to mankind, and they are also the main ways in which mankind obtains energy today.
For humans in the last days, these two traditional energy sources have become the key to ensuring human survival.
Especially coal resources, whether for heating or power generation, coal that is easy to use and easy to mine has become the most important material that is indispensable to mankind today.
But for Chen Xin and his shelter, the main source of energy is still gasoline.
Just maintaining 24 hours of uninterrupted light to ensure the oxygen production of the greenhouse will greatly increase the gasoline consumption used to generate electricity.
It's not that Chen Xin doesn't want to use more efficient and reliable diesel, but diesel will condense when the temperature drops below zero, making it inconvenient to use.
Although high-grade diesel can solve this problem, the price of high-grade diesel is actually a bit higher than ordinary gasoline.
After all, even -35 diesel can only be used between -14°C and 29°C. Compared with the -35°C freezing point of ordinary gasoline, the advantage is not obvious.
As for the higher-grade diesel fuel - No. 50, regardless of where to buy such high-grade diesel, its price is much more expensive than ordinary gasoline.
When he first entered the shelter, Chen Xin only needed to consume 10 liters of gasoline a day to generate electricity to meet all electricity consumption. After upgrading the greenhouse, he now consumes 20 liters of fuel per day, and the lighting time is provided by the system upgrade - With 10% light time, plants only need to be exposed to light for about 12 hours a day.
Now if the greenhouse is allowed to maintain light 24 hours a day, the fuel consumption will soar to twice the current level, which means Chen Xin will consume 40 liters of gasoline a day.
In other words, the gasoline that Chen Xin originally prepared could last for one year, but it was probably only enough for three months.
Moreover, long-term uninterrupted use of the generator will also cause wear and tear on the generator and accelerate the damage of the generator.
"It's time to upgrade the power generation system." Chen Xin rubbed his forehead and calculated his gasoline consumption. He determined that he had to upgrade the shelter's power system.
Otherwise, unless he can continuously obtain a large amount of gasoline from the SWAT team to maintain consumption, he will face the situation of running out of gasoline.
But how to upgrade the power system? Simply increasing the output power of the generator is meaningless, because energy is conserved, and increasing the output power only means consuming more fuel.
As for improving the efficiency of generators, this is a feasible method, but the effect will not be too great. After all, energy saving of 5%-10% sounds like a lot, but when it comes to actual consumption, it is nothing more than reducing fuel consumption. The day of exhaustion is just postponed for a few more days.
Therefore, the most appropriate way is to make the shelter self-sustaining, so that the energy consumption and the output of the shelter can break even and form a cycle.
Thinking of this, Chen Xin naturally thought about the algae circulation oxygen concentrator he told Mo Qingyan.
This system can produce oxygen and algae biomass. It not only provides oxygen, but can also be used to produce biogas for fuel cells to generate electricity. It consumes electricity, water and carbon dioxide.
Water resources are no longer a problem now that Chen Xin can extract groundwater, and the water consumption of growing algae is not large. In addition, it can be recycled, so Chen Xin is not worried about water resources.
As for the issue of carbon dioxide, after the entire system is operational, the carbon dioxide produced during biogas combustion can be collected to supply algae for photosynthesis. If it is not enough, carbon dioxide in the air can also be used as a supplement.
After all, Chen Xin's shelter is not a completely enclosed ecological experimental cabin, and it can completely supplement its consumption with the help of external resources.
The only problem is the power consumption. (End of chapter)