Well, I'm on the sick at the present so between replanting my aquarium and
stumbling around I have been trolling the web checking *really* uninteresting
sites so no one else has too! The conclusion is in the *real world* peat
would not be a viable fuel source around WW.
As someone pointed out peat bogs are highly acidic and it is this acidosis,
combined with a lack of oxygen which causes the plant matter to form peat and
not decay.
From every source about WW the place is built on a limestone tor which is
alkaline. Limestone is very easily drained, again not good for peat production.
From memory peat bogs are formed on poorly drained basins on *hard* rock like
granite which does not alter the water chemistry not on limestone, chalk etc
which will react with the water to raise the ph and make it alkaline (as
well as form really neat caves!).
The other problem is drying it out. To burn the moisture content has to be
around 30-40% and this is done whilst being cut, not in huge piles. In theory
the occupants could have stored this pre-dried peat within the walls. The
problem with drying it in huge mounds is that the temperature rises deep in the
mound high enough to cause it to ignite. However I think that would be soooo
funny right in the middle of the siege (How did those pesky Lunars set fire to
the peat stacks?).
Now the boring technical stuff.
How much energy it produces is it's Joules per kilo, the higher the value
the more heat you get. So comparing the most common fuels:
Coal 30.60 MJ/Kg
Charcoal 33.70 MJ/kg
Wood 14-17 MJ/Kg
Peat 20-23 MJ/kg
Now I like to clear something up. I *don't* work for the Charcoal Promotion
Agency and I won't get all precious if it don't fit in with the greater plan
but I think cellars of charcoal is the sensible option. Remember that the
figures above are proportional to weight and peat is 30-40% water and therefore
you would need a greater volume of fuel to produce the same amount of heat.
Coal is a no-no. It is completely crap for metal working as it is full of
sulphides which makes metal (well iron at least) brittle and unworkable. Now
*charcoal* is the fuel of the future :)
Sorry for the long post, I'll go back to being ill.
Steve
ps I ran a non-Gloranthan game years ago where the Mostali used coal and all
its by-products. We had air tight chambers burning coal to produce coke for
the ironworks and coal gas (carbon monoxide v. poisonous) for gas lighting
etc. They even had vulcanised rubber wheels on their carts...
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