Skip to main content
Worldbuilding

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

Required fields*

3
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Biofuels are probably key if you have to start from low tech. Ultimately, they are just a low-efficiency version of solar (capped out at <1%, vs like 20~30% for solar cells). $\endgroup$ Commented yesterday
  • $\begingroup$ @user4574 As mentioned, charcoal and alcohol would be great to kick-start things. The problem is that they aren't viably scalable at all. Solar outperforms bio-fuels by at least 40x in energy production per unit of land used. Wind gets to about 100x, and the land below is still suitable for farming. Getting there is going to be a chore, but farming 40x the necessary land, year after year will slow the colonists down by requiring them to farm a lot. Nuclear might be a viable alternative. $\endgroup$ Commented 23 hours ago
  • $\begingroup$ Europe's own industrial revolution nearly collapsed in the mid-1800s because they burned through all of the continent's natural forests after just 100 years of low-scale industrialization and could not scale up or replant what they were burning. What we think of as industrialization did not really hit scale until after we started burning fossil fuels. $\endgroup$ Commented 14 hours ago