I want to see a “green city” that works. Maybe try to find some optimal templates.
We don’t have to call it that. But I would like to see more attempts at a few things I have yet to see players acheive:
Urban farming - a city that grows a lot of crops and has its own food factory. I have a template I am experimenting on for this but it is hard to keep everyone’s needs in walking distance. I don’t think it all needs to be grow in the city but the more the better. I currently am experimenting with small fields in residential areas to boost crop production. IMO if there is one industry that should be somewhat decentralized it is food. Greenhouse mods are acceptable although they are not up to date.
Cleaner(er) energy - making a power grid work with only renewables will be a huge challenge that I would love to see. Maybe there can be a limit for one nuclear power plant and bonus points if it’s a single reactor, that way there is baseline power but I think you must have your own waste facility.
Waste obviously - recycle as much waste as possible. Incinerator power plants can be acceptable as a ‘necessary evil’ because, although they are big polluters, you still need a ton of trash for it to run at baseline and it would be irresponsible to export waste and make someone else deal with your trash.
Other than those 3 perameters it is up to the player what goes on in this green city, but the more self sufficient the better.
Please add any suggestions to this idyllic city challenge. I will work on my experiment as I have time and post about it when something is working.
I just use the transformer to connect to the grid. So medium to large. I’m pretty sure it works because the turbines increase output after I connect them despite wind speed remaining the same.
It is tricky because iirc the transformer can only handle like 4 or 5 mw. The second largest underground medium powerline (like 1.25mw?) should be enough to handle a windmill most days. Max out put is under 1.5mw and that rarely happens.
I have not tried this on a large scale however. Someday I will try to make a massive windfarm and discover exactly the limitations of adding to the grid.
No doubt their best use is to power a distant firestation or gas station. But it would be nice to have a nuclear power plant provide background power sparingly because of so much wind and solar.
If you could schedule shifts and only run industry during the day it would be easier to manage energy needs around solar.