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[–] • 1 pt

You're probably going to need petroleum based products for lubrication, but it's moderately easy to crack petroleum yourself. Not much different than distilling alcohol.

[–] • 0 pt

I.C.E. are far superior as long as you have a supply of fuel. But steam power has been around for centuries. Hasn't there been any modern improvements since the '50s or '60s to make steam engines more competitive? ...or at least improved enough to be an alternative source of power? I only ask because you seem to know a lot on this subject and it's damned interesting. You would think there'd be much more interest in steam power among preppers and the Ted-in-the-shed types.

[–] • 1 pt

Steam is difficult to use because of the high pressures involved, and the relatively high consumption of water and fuel for the output.

Steam is great at large scale, think power plants, locomotives, etc., and steam turbine technology is incredibly efficient. It's just not efficient at small scales. People like Abner Doble did try to make it down to small scale, but there's still a lot of gotchas in the tech.