Game Design, Programming and running a one-man games business…

Positech Energy. STAGE ONE. BWAHAHAHAHAHA

cliffski

My day dreams involve mostly chocolate and spaceships, but now and then I dream about running a big renewable energy business. I’m a big believer in such things. If You are someone who thinks climate change is made up by Al Gore as a plot to take away your guns, stop reading now.

Unfortunately, despite being very into green energy, I know sod all about engineering. I can wire a plug, and even solder a bit now and then, but my understanding of planning applications and energy management and construction processes is absolutely zero, so Positech has to be, for now, a passive investor in such things. Long term readers of my blog may know that I have a hybrid car and a little row of 10 solar panels in my driveway, and maybe also know that I’ve bought some shares in a solar farm here and there. I consider them to be good investments. I don’t know many investments that pretty much guarantee an inflation-beating return over 25 years, but energy infrastructure does. I’m willing to bet that energy prices will only go UP during that time frame.

Anyway, today marks a milestone because rather than making these investments as an individual, Positech has invested in a chunk of renewable energy as a long term (25 years) investment. I see this as a pretty good hedge against the games industry. Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket and all that.

So Positech has bought roughly 6% of this:

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It’s a crowd-funded Vestas V39 Wind Turbine, in Dorset, SW England. It’s also BIG. Wind turbine efficiency is very directly correlated with scale. Small ones suck. TBH, this one is too small really. It’s a 500Kw one, whereas the big ones are 6MW or even 8MW for experimental offshore ones. However, it kicks my 2.1kwp solar array into dust. Plus wind turbines run all night and all year. yay! It might be small by wind turbine standards, but its’ big enough to be efficient. 39 meter diameter blades. pic below shows scale better…

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I’m a big fan of long term investments, and spreading risk, and trying to do something about climate change. Positech could leave its money in the bank, where it could be lent out to arms companies like BAE or Oil Companies or god knows what else, or I could take control of it directly and invest it in something I consider positive, so thats what we have done.

Who knows maybe in the long term we will invest directly, and get a turbine built as a company (positech energy?) rather than this sort of investment, but that takes BIG money. I think you really need about a million pounds to do that, and ideally about five to ten million to build any of the proper sized ones. I better get back to work… :D

7 thoughts on Positech Energy. STAGE ONE. BWAHAHAHAHAHA

  1. You left out some details. I’ll make following note because in my country these have become a problem due to lack of common sense and greed on part of those setting them up and will probably made inoperable one way or the other (whole lot of law suits and lobbying to futher the minimum distances etc)

    Nr #1 rule in wind turbines. Make sure it’s atleast 20 km away from places where people spend a lot of time. Those things cause resonances at very low frequencies that need really specialized expensive equipment to measure and then add some housing there and you may also get harmonics. So essentially the “expensive equipment” would be houses of all sorts of size and shapes and then equipment to measure possible harmonic effects.

    How did I come up with 20 km? It’s the minimum figure to start with in negotiations about how far those things should be in housing. After all sort of bribing and non-sensical data using measurements that can’t possibly work, the final distance will be much closer.

  3. (and even if there was no resonance or harmonics, just the matter of fact that the stuff those generate (like 0-30 hz) tends to be pulse type “noises”, people who sense them don’t get used to it – issue when they are at audible distances)

  4. If you’re so eager to throw away (paper) money… :p
    What about funding (some of) your fellow indies?
    In many cases a kickstarter campaign is just too much overhead, especially if the sum is small.
    Many indies just need the money to pay for a composer + a little just-in-case…
    Ask for a percentage of their revenues.
    Even expanding showmethegames into a proper portal is going to be more profitable than green-whatever – my two cents!

    1. Did you hear that?
      That little bird that keeps whispering:

      “Stick to your field of expertise, Cliff…
      If you feel the need to diversify, then diversify WITHIN your little pond, especially in these times of uncertainty. All that attention to stats, traffic reveal that you have a brain for this kind of things – this kind of things WITHIN the aforementioned little pond.
      You’re the first to admit that you don’t have a clue about engineering this green-something stuff…
      You’re one of the very few indies with over a decade of experience&successes under your belt.
      One of the few that’s 99.9% certain that will still be in business 10 years from now…
      Stick to YOUR fuckin’ field of expertise, Cliff!”

      What can I say?
      Well, generally listening to those wise little birds pays well – in the long run.

  5. Good on you, Cliff, for putting your money where your mouth is. I support Positech Games both for the awesome games you make *and* your willingness to invest in things that you believe in. I hope to someday be able to do the same.

    Thanks for being awesome.

  6. Nice! You’re a real inspiration for other indie developers, and just decent human beings in general.

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