# Plausibility of alternative power for a small commune **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 3, 2001, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plausibility-of-alternative-power-for-a-small-commune/96669 "2001-12-03T19:03:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plausibility-of-alternative-power-for-a-small-commune/96669/21 "2001-12-04T13:17:19Z")
\>\> You’ve thought about video games but not refrigeration? Well, look how he started: “Friends and I, in moments of drunkeness…” What would you expect? I think he was looking for answers more in the line of generating power by having hamsters running in squirrel cages. On the other hand i am having this idea that on _my_ island power could be generated by topless girls dancing non stop. I am sure it can be done. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plausibility-of-alternative-power-for-a-small-commune/96669/22 "2001-12-04T13:30:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by erislover \* > **a commune of sorts (actually a constitutional monarchy but the details are relatively unimportant there)** I predict rebellion, civil war and massacre within six months… 😉 Seriously, someone has actually written a book about this very subject. But I’m damned if I can find it. I know I stumbled onto a website for it a year or so ago, at a time when I was doing some research into Micronesia/Marshall Islands, as well as living and working abroad. Some guy had written this book, and the website owner had “purchased every copy” because he thought it was so great that he was selling them himself. All sounded a bit suss, but the book was billed as having information such as “setting up a basic sewerage system” as well as the initial legalities of finding, buying and inhabiting your island. I hope it rings a bell with someone else because I’ve searched for it in vain for you. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plausibility-of-alternative-power-for-a-small-commune/96669/23 "2001-12-04T13:49:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by istara \* > **Seriously, someone has actually written a book about this very subject. But I’m damned if I can find it. I know I stumbled onto a website for it a year or so ago, at a time when I was doing some research into Micronesia/Marshall Islands, as well as living and working abroad.** I believe you’re looking for _[How to start your own country](http://oceania.org/mall/startcou.html)_, by Erwin Strauss. As all other things worth pondering, this has already been discussed by the Master: [How do I go about starting my own country?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_300.html) ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plausibility-of-alternative-power-for-a-small-commune/96669/24 "2001-12-04T14:18:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JillGat \* > RE: refrigeration. Not a big deal, though I hadn’t really thought about it.]] erislover > > Wait a minute. You’ve thought about video games but not refrigeration? I don’t get this. Isn’t much to get. The thought that went across my mind was that people lived thousands of years without refrigeration, and since we wouldn’t be experiencing winter per se we could keep a steady food supply without storage. Video games/books are the entertainment we’d have, something that an island itself doesn’t really offer. But we can salt fish and eat kelp or seaweed without having to refrigerate it. I hadn’t thought about it because I had no plans on storing steaks over a non-existent winter. See? **sailor** , thanks for your help. I know how much you enjoy alternative energy threads. It must have been hard for your to suggest wind power, but I thank you for that sacrifice. I’ll respectfully agree with you on your topless dancer idea if you promise to leave the thread or quit taking pot-shots. ---
**Author:** ![starfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@starfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starfish)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plausibility-of-alternative-power-for-a-small-commune/96669/25 "2001-12-04T17:21:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by billy \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > > \*\* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by billy \* > > > **The heat you take from the water could be used both directly for cooking and also used to power a generator to keep the batteries going. Your heat pump would run from the batteries.** > > > > I think you have a 2nd _and_ a 1st-Law violation going on here, if I understand what you are saying. \*\* > > I don’t claim to be up on my thermo dynamics but I’m not sure this idea violates any laws of anything. > > Oh ya, and the US military agrees with me. And if they can’t be trusted to tell the truth, who can? Just like the TV. > Follow this link: [http://web.usna.navy.mil/~m010312/](http://web.usna.navy.mil/~m010312/) \*\* Billy Read your link. It doesn’t matter how much 90F water you have, you can’t boil an egg with it. There is no using the heat from the water to directly cook your food. You use the warm water to vaporize a fluid. The low pressure vapor spins a turbine to produce electicity. You condense the vapor with cool water. The electricity left after operating all of the pumps can be used for cooking or other uses. This does not violate thermo laws since it is not closed, it requires an outside source of both warm and cool water. It look like it would always require a battery to get the system to start up when it is shut down for maintenance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plausibility-of-alternative-power-for-a-small-commune/96669.md?page=1)