Chapter 353: Seaweed That Could Generate Electricity
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
In this month, Xin was indeed in a turbulence of problems. Because of too many headlines originating from there, a lot of the press decided to send a reporter to the station to acquire first-hand information.
Other than that, there were more tourists interested in exploring this not-yet-developed island out of curiosity. The streets of Coro Island were filled with tourists in backpacks.
A country with only nine islands and a government that didn’t control its armies – some of the far-thinking organizations even expressed that this was a jewel of a true democracy… The expression on the puppet president’s face would certainly be interesting when he heard these words.
The news was a form of advertis.e.m.e.nt -there weren’t a lot of chances for the country to make headlines in the international section.
Before that, no one had ever heard of Pannu Islands in the Pacific Ocean but following the recent series of events as well as Future International’s role in purposely stirring up the conversation, a lot more people began to have an impression of the small Pacific country.
Regardless if the impression was positive or not, it certainly paved the way for future marketing. Once the basic and tourism infrastructure completed development and the political situation stabilized, there certainly would be a crowd willing to come to the mystical island, enjoy the beauty of the west Pacific, and experience the unique culture.
With the current rate of construction, the soonest they could be ready was within half a year, slowest within a year.
The day wasn’t far away.
…
While Zhang Yapin had a headache to deal with, the perpetrator of everything, Jiang Chen, was enjoying his life. Although he promised he would take care of this, he only left Zhang Yapin with one clear instruction of never apologizing before he abandoned the issue.
Then Jiang Chen headed to New Moon Island for a few days and who knows what he did on the island.
Regarding country F’s potential impending revenge, he didn’t seem to be concerned as the major shareholder. Zhang Yapin was unsure whether he was confident or just plain arrogant.
From the perspective of the Xin president, he obviously wanted him to be the former.
In the next few days, Jiang Chen spent his time on a boat around the islands. Of course, it wasn’t for fun but rather, for business.
Because of the ten billion dollar project, he became the largest real estate owner of Pannu with 110 square kilometers on the main island, 70 square kilometers on the other island in addition to the sea territory near the equator becoming part of his a.s.sets. Whether he would develop his territory personally or sell it to other people would all be based on his discretion.
Of course, with this much land, he alone certainly wouldn’t be able to develop it all. If left to its own devices, the land would only acc.u.mulate weeds. He toured all the land he owned in the past few days and decided how he should develop the land.
After completing all this, there was also good news from the apocalypse.
After half a month of research and experimentation, the improved recipe of nutrient supply was successfully developed. When he heard the news from Lin Lin, he immediately returned to the apocalypse and took a helicopter to camp 27.
When he arrived underground, he found the director of the research team in the empty fallout shelter.
“I heard you finished it?” When Jiang Chen saw the slim middle-aged man, he hastily jumped to the topic.
w.a.n.g Fangpin looked at Jiang Chen in excitement as he quickly nodded his head.
“We finished it – yesterday, we completed the trial process. It’s hard to believe we did it; we previously thought we were just improving on the recipe, but we somehow made a technological breakthrough in the live cell preparation field.”
“Technological breakthrough?” Jiang Chen took a moment to digest this before his face turned to shock.
In the apocalypse covered in ruins, it was a feat to replicate the technology from before the war, let alone make any technological breakthroughs. But now, w.a.n.g Fangpin told him that the research team managed to do just that.
“That’s right.” w.a.n.g Fangpin nodded in excitement. “Following your requirements, to compress the production cost and improve the nutrient supply, we chose to use seaweed that has the most yield and shortest growth cycle. But when we were in the process of induced differentiation of the seaweed cells, surprisingly, we created a new type of seaweed.”
“What is it?” Jiang Chen was drawn into it.
“A type of seaweed that can generate electricity!” w.a.n.g Fangpin said, ecstatic.
Jiang Chen was truly stunned.
Energy was always a critical priority in development, whether it was in the wasteland or the modern world. At the end of the 21st century of this world, biological power generation was the research priority of the three countries before there was a miraculous breakthrough in nuclear fusion power generation and before the first s.p.a.ce elevator was built. It was only then that Hydrogen-3 was continually transported back to the earth to create the relatively cheap nuclear fusion battery. It cooled down the investment in biological power generation.
One gram of hydrogen fusion generation created an equivalent power equal to the complete combustion of 11.2 tons of standard coal along with preserving the environment. Such a ma.s.sive amount of energy was leagues ahead of other types of power generation techniques. Because of this, although other power generation methods all possessed the theoretical potential to develop further, no one conducted more research.
But whether it was in the wasteland or in the modern world, renewable clean energy dominated the large market! Just like in Pannu Islands, since the area was designated as a tourist area, the coal-fired generation plant with relatively high pollution would not be built on the island. The island could only use the high cost and low-efficiency tidal power generation combined with solar power to meet the energy needs of the islands.
But if this existed, the Pannu Islands’ ma.s.sive sea would provide Xin with an endless amount of energy! Xin would no longer need to worry about power.
It was certainly a pleasant surprise to make a breakthrough in biotechnology during the nutrient supply recipe development process. Jiang Chen was astonished.
“The seaweed cells during photosynthesis cause a special photographic effect, creating a trace amount of electricity within the content of the cell. Although the electricity of a single cell is negligible, it is substantial for an entire seaweed plant.” w.a.n.g Fangpin began to explain the theory behind this type of seaweed. Although he explained it in simple terms, Jiang Chen was only interested in the last sentence.
“What’s the power generation amount per area?” Jiang Chen couldn’t help but ask.
“The current power generational efficiency is relatively low; it can only achieve 0.1 kilowatts per square meter. Most of the power is converted into heat, diffusing and increasing the temperature of the nearby water region, and there are also concerns about electricity diffusion under water. But with the prediction of the mathematical model, if all these problems are fixed, it would generate up to 1 kilowatt per square meter.”
“1 kilowatt per square meter!” Jiang Chen was again stunned.
If it were solar generation, 10 kilowatts of energy would require 40 panels with an area approximately equivalent to 64 square meters. Therefore, the energy generation would equate to 0.15 kilowatt per square meter! The “biological generator” used solar energy, but its electricity generation was 6.6 times better than traditional solar panels!
With the stunned look on Jiang Chen’s face, w.a.n.g Fangpin was relieved.
When they learned that there weren’t a lot of nuclear fusion batteries on the surface and that the base primarily used solar panels for power generation, he immediately thought of the stagnated power generational technology at the end of the 21st century. He happened to be a scientist in biotechnology as his first idea was biological power generation.
While the technology was yet to be completed, it wasn’t a hard task to create it standing on top of the giant. Just like a math problem that couldn’t be done by an elementary student could easily be solved in high school.
Because of the disconnect between moon and earth, the outdated power generation technology again had its purpose.
To be honest, their research team had completed the nutrient supply recipe five days ago. The reason why they chose to report their findings five days later was to research about seaweed power generation. It wasn’t a coincidence that they discovered the cell, but rather the result of genetic modification. He was afraid of telling Jiang Chen because he feared this dictator would penalize them for using up excessive research resources and intentionally delaying the reporting of the research findings.
Now that Jiang Chen was pleased with their research, he felt relieved.
With this, because this topic gained the traction, there was hope to continue their research; they would no longer need to live back on the surface and suffer.
But their concern was excessive, Jiang Chen didn’t mind them doing “personal work,” since their research all belonged to him in the end anyway.
“You guys did a great job! Excellent, what rewards do you want?” Jiang Chen laughed as he patted w.a.n.g Fangpin on the shoulder.
“No need for rewards.” w.a.n.g Fangpin shook his hands and smiled. “Just let us stay in the fallout shelter to continue our research. We have some achievements in the biological field.”
“I must reward you for your contribution to the base.” Jiang Chen thought for a moment before he had an idea.
“I have an idea. To reward you for your outstanding contribution to the base’s energy problem, I will reward you five with the honor of “outstanding scholars,” and a “knight emblem.” From now on, you will be the knight cla.s.s of the Fishbone base. Don’t underestimate the outstanding scholar name; it would mean that you’re permitted to freely enter and leave the fallout shelter without the permission of the camp leader. Even without working on this research project, you can live inside.
w.a.n.g Fangpin was ecstatic.
“Thank you, General!”
He had no interest in becoming part of the knight cla.s.s. He never visited the Fishbone base before nor did he want to. His only wish was to stay in the safe and comfortable fallout shelter.
“No need to thank me now, I will only grant you the honor after you complete the project.” Jiang Chen smiled.
“Count on us, we’ll definitely complete this project!” w.a.n.g Fangpin promised.
“Then I will wait for your good news. Let’s not talk about this anymore. Take me to see the improved nutrient supply.”
Seeing the nutrient supply was the priority of Jiang Chen’s trip. The faster it was produced, the sooner he could make money. He didn’t forget that he had thirty billion in debt.