What's YOUR favourite power source?

[Excalibur42]

So what power source (can be from any mod) do you tend to lean to the most when it comes to finally making your base?

Personally, I like Geothermals being powered by a BC pump pumping lava from the nether through an enderchest. For BC power, something about hobbyist engines, they're just awesome.

 

[Bavalos]

Biogas engines work really well for me. Later on I'm going to convert my biomass into boifuel to run a boiler which in turn can supplement all my energy needs! Both MJ and EU! My base isn't very power hungry at the moment lol

 

[raiju]

Nuclear

 

[drazath]

Playing Mindcrack on hard: Ultimate hybrid solar panels. At a glance the materials are insane, but once you have some decent infrastructure going on, they're not that bad. Just place them down and bam, endless source of EU.

For MJs, RP windmills => blutricity engine => redstone energy cell. I don't like most of the BC engines at all.

 

[madaffacca]

Does anybody know the MJ value for RP Blutricity Engines? I'm currently going on with some biofuel engines, but since I have plenty of nikolite and plenty of strings, I could easily set up a RP MJ production facility, but I'm not sure if it's worth or not.

 

[Exedra]

Saice could help with BT engines.

Personally, I use biogas engines powered by The Cow-Rapeinator 9000

 

[NightB1ade]

We've got two sections to our world.

Our "industrial section" runs off wind pillars and then we've got Thermal Generators running off Netherrack to give this EU.

The second section is "agricultural" and we've just completed (I'm just balancing numbers). But I'm running 8 combustion engines off renewable biofuel:
2 levels of sugar cane harvested by one sugar cane harvester
2 wheat farms to generate dirt and compost via macerator and automatic crafting tables
Sugar cane is fermented to biomass
Biomass -> biofuel
8 combustion engines (I'm seeing if I can add one more as I'm getting a excess biofuel)

The little bit of excess biofuel is also diverted to a bio generator for when I need a bit of EU to recharge my tools and jetpack, depending if I need more, I'll divert more to it.

The reason I'm doing combustion instead of steam boiler is that I did some number crunching and realised that for the steam boiler to be more efficient, I would need boiler of size 16HP or 32LP to equal that of combustion engines running on biofuel, then any larger would generate more efficiency. I don't think that my sugar cane farm can sustain a larger boiler (let alone heating it up), hence sticking with the combustion engines.

EDIT: Edit for clarity

 

[whythisname]

I'm running a Peat fired LP Boiler as my main power source. I've got a Magma Crucible hooked up with a GeoGen to get me the EUs I need for my tools, miner, Electrolyzer, Blast Furnace, etc. The rest of the MJs the Boiler produces go into all sorts of machinery, my farms, ore processing, Rolling machine, etc.

I'll probably switch to an HP boiler and multiple Crucibles and GeoGens at some point, but for the time being I've got enough power to run my temporary base. It's all a bit messy and cramped, so I'll be moving that stuff sooner or later to a larger more permanent home.

 

[Abdiel]

I always run combustion engines with fuel for BC power. The fuel efficiency is so great that I rarely need to refill the oil tanks, and BC machines don't draw that much energy (obviously if you put a shutoff switch on thermionic fabricators and rolling machines).

Forestry farms are usually fueled by peat or later in the game biofuel. I try to make the farming assembly a self-sufficient system independent on other BC machines, as the farms are intended to run 24/7 and need a suitable power source.

For IC power, varies. From solid fueled generators to assorted GT machinery to nuclear reactors. I try to experiment with different things, not just use the same setup over and over.

Factorization obviously solars, no other option here.

For Redpower, it depends on whether I'm building underground or not. Solars or thermopiles are always enough to power any RP machinery I'd need. If I use windmills it's only for aesthetic value, I never need that much power. In fact I usually don't have a RP power network at all, just a thermopile or two and a battery box for each group of machines I need to power.

 

[kalak35]

I'm using a wither-skeleton powered HP boiler. Thanks to soulshard and a lot of time we got a tier 5 spawner wich can keep up very well.

 

[slay_mithos]

This will sound stupid, but I usually use seed oil for some time.

Very early, hobbyist steam engine.
When I have decent seed supplies, I go to seed oil.
And way later down the line, I feed various fuels to boilers.

As for IC2, I used to run a few solars and a normal generator to power early machines, but I didn't even start them in my last world, waiting to have the resources to directly go fully on Greg Tech machines instead.

 

[Exedra]

The seed oil goes in biogas engines? Or liquid boiler maybe?

 

[__HATE__]

Solar panels and electric engines, simple and effective.

 

[Dafuq?]

Early game I usually go with hobbyist steam engines running on coal coke for BC power and a few regular solar panels for IC2.

Later on a liquid transposer/lava setup in the nether for geothermals and magmatic engines. As soon as I can find oil, I mostly use BC fuel like Abdiel, it really lasts ridiculously long. And with BC gates, plus TE energy cells and conduits you can setup a nearly maintenance-free power network.

 

[Dreossk]

IC2 solar panels. No big setup required, very powerful if upgraded, no complications, no need for something else. I can't stand MJ energy since it's really not as well made as EU. I didn't try messing with BT but I never needed it so I don't see why I would.

 

[Dragonfel]

For EU it depends if I'm building on the surface. I'm fond of building secret underground bunkers, so I tend to lean towards nuclear for those. Above ground I prefer solar (either compact or advanced solars). I tend to use lava as a backup, I end up with a large tank of lava from my IC2 miners.

For MJ, I tend to use Electric engines. In my last bunker, I set up a Redstone Energy Cell recharge station with electric engines right next to my reactor. I'd manually swap cells as they depleted. My forestry farms are usually powered by a single advanced solar/electric engine each.

I'm curious to try something more "interesting" soon, maybe a red power milking station feeding into biogas engines or a T5 blaze farm.

 

[Malkuth]

Everything Lava Related. Then Biomass for a close 2nd.

 

[Evil Hamster]

The reason I'm doing combustion instead of steam boiler is that I did some number crunching and realised that for the steam boiler to be more efficient, I would need boiler of size 16HP or 32LP to equal that of combustion engines running on biofuel, then any larger would generate more efficiency. I don't think that my sugar cane farm can sustain a larger boiler (let alone heating it up), hence sticking with the combustion engines.

EDIT: Edit for clarity

2 layer reed farm can easily keep a 36 hp boiler running with excess reed generation, excess biomass and extra biofuel once warmed up. It will take ~400,000 units to heat up though.

My base is currently running off that single boiler which is more than I need. I also have a line of magmatic engines feeding into the MJ network, but I shut them down once the boiler came online.

For EU, I have a setup of 24 thermal generators for the bulk production. I shut those down once I finished my grav suit and didn't need uu matter anymore and all my energy needs are being met by some advanced solar panels on the roof of my house.

 

[RandomMoped]

advanced solars

 

[BanzaiBlitz]

Working towards it still, but eventually complete a "Power Core" in my tower with 5 auto-refueled fusion reactors. For bluetricity, some pillar thermopile setups that will also generate basalt at the same time.