Werrl, sticking with the steam power, probably the cheapest thing to get your hands on and burn is plain old waste biomass -- the stalks of grain plants, the bagasse from sugar cane processing, etc. Perhaps it's not as efficient in terms of the engine performance as coal, it's certainly not as green as solar, wind or fusion (and I personally have reservations about fusion), but it's a big step up from coal and oil. The best you can do with an internal combustion engine is to substitute for ethanol, which is currently made either from petrochemicals (unbelievable, but, alas, true; there was some trouble over it over here not so long ago), or with low efficiency and high energy cost in separation from food biomass. It ain't the best, but it is better.
Realistically, however, how many steampunks have a steam-driven lifestyle? For those who don't, that statement is pretty well true. There is a tendency to make, to mend, and to scrounge items from junk/thrift shops. An aesthetic rejection of plastic is still a rejection of plastic.
I have never leapt up and say "I'm steampunk! I'm green!", but I can see where someone saying it might be coming from, and I think it is not as ridiculous a statement as it appears at first glance.
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asenathwaite
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Date: 2008-06-20 10:22 pm (UTC)Realistically, however, how many steampunks have a steam-driven lifestyle? For those who don't, that statement is pretty well true. There is a tendency to make, to mend, and to scrounge items from junk/thrift shops. An aesthetic rejection of plastic is still a rejection of plastic.
I have never leapt up and say "I'm steampunk! I'm green!", but I can see where someone saying it might be coming from, and I think it is not as ridiculous a statement as it appears at first glance.