So we can confirm that Freeman didn’t have seedlings nor family of any kind.
… poor Freeman. I mean, if I was him I would have go to check them instantly instead of trying to escape the place.
To add to that, the BMRF also has a Nuclear generator in addition to the dam.
We’re not supposed to tell anyone, but Black-Mesa is actually an underground weed growing facility, we specialize in a special brand of Marijuana, we call it Black-Kush.
It’s a science factory.
Since when does Black Mesa have its own nuclear generator?
Since Lambda Complex.
Since it’s a hypermodern facility with the latest, and probably safest, technology.
Win.
But the lambda core isn’t used as a source of power, or is it? I thought it delivers energy for the lambda teleporter.
If it delivers energy for the lambda teleporter then it’s a power source, isn’t it?
Power_Dust: Something that delivers energy over a period of time is a source of power, by definition. Power is defined as a rate of energy transmission.
Although you have a point, the Lambda Core might not the ultimate source of that power, the ultimate source could be the hydro-electric dam for all we know… But considering the sheer amount of energy that’s probably required to do something like open a wormhole to a border dimension, personally I don’t think a nuclear reactor somewhere in the facility would be out of the question. (Heck, where else could all that radioactive green stuff come from?)
This. :retard:
The facility is huge and I imagine that as the years went by and the whole place grew they would add newer and more efficient / environmentally friendly power sources.
Personally, I would like to see some solar panels and wind turbines in the facility too. After all, if Black Mesa was being funded by the government, they would probably be ordered to install such devices for the sake of the media and public eye.
Oops, silly me. But Muh knows what I mean that it’s not the ultimate source of power of Black Mesa but rather for providing the lambda teleporter with energy.
And yeah, solar panels probably would look nice.
Government knows solar panels and wind turbines are, in actuality, too immature for truly practical use (too expensive, inconstant/not reliable, poor power to area ratio) especially during the time of HL. The government would most likely use nuclear or hydroelectric to power the facility.
Also, there is a lot of top secret work going on so the media and public eye will be involved as little as possible.
To stay on topic, it’s like Ram said, the facility is huge and the majority of it is pristine, but you do not see the majority of the facility since you are hiding behind the scenes.
If the government tried to cover up BM by saying that there was a nuclear reactor accident and the base exploded…
Anarchy, basically.
That’d be like another atomic bomb test somewhere in the Nevada desert. Except it’s an accidently test.
“Alright guys, RC in 3…2…1…”
OFF TOPIC: RC is short for my name, Robert Clark.
What?
My point is that that particular cover-up wouldn’t work, because it’s impossible for a nuclear reactor to explode; you have to refine nuclear materials further than reactor-grade for them to be usable in a nuclear bomb. Heck, even going “super-critical” means the reactor is set to ‘high’.
More info Here.
Though for some reason Hollywood thinks that Nuke Reactors like to go boom with the slightest half-nudge.
@ UrBY: I’m with rorriMAesU on this one. Nuclear plants, although they’re far less green than something like solar panels, they’re far more efficient at energy production.
As far as I can tell, I’d say the government still isn’t really all that into the whole “green energy” thing just yet… at least not beyond the “publicity stunt” stage, where they might use green energy in certain areas which receive public attention, but certainly not in “behind-the-scenes” places like Black Mesa.
And this is 2010. We’re already past the latest 200X deadline in which the Resonance Cascade supposedly occurred… Considering this, personally I highly doubt there would have been any solar panels in Black Mesa during the time of Gordon’s employment (save for any satellites they may have been working on, including the one Gordon launched).
As far as windmills go, I figure that’s what they have the hydroelectric dam for. A dam is far more reliable as a source of energy than a windmill, because the flow of water is, for the most part, much more constant than the flow and directionality of wind… why spend money building windmills when you could optimize/restructure/add more turbines to the dam?
@ Pyro: I wouldn’t say impossible. Just unlikely. Nuclear reactors can explode, but the resulting damage isn’t due to the blast radius, but rather the released radioactive material. The real problem is that both Chernobyl and Hollywood* have done an excellent job of burning into most people’s minds the idea that if it’s “nuclear” and/or a “reactor” of some sort, than it’s inherently a highly unstable ticking time bomb, just waiting for the right moment to blow up and destroy everything. Critics of the “Nuclear Accident at Black Mesa” news story would probably just be hailed as crazy conspiracy theorists and lunatics by the media… I mean, honestly, what possible motive could our government have to blow up a perfectly innocent research facility? 
Maybe I’m just too cynical, and don’t have enough faith in the American media/public… but personally, I don’t think it would be that far-fetched to say that a nuclear cover up could work, and not because of its scientific authenticity, but because most of the public would probably buy the story hook line and sinker.
After all, it’s not about what’s true. It’s about what’s believed to be true. 
- EDIT: Dangit :ninja: