Chapter 1345 Energy Structure
In May, Britain, France, Germany and Austria held a secret contact meeting in the Netherlands, and the long road of negotiations began. This was already a good start.
After all, Europe had been fighting for nearly five years, and both sides had paid tens of millions of casualties. It was wishful thinking to expect them to shake hands and make peace in a short period of time.
As time goes by, peace will eventually come. After all, European countries are not fools. They don't want to fight to the death to make wedding dresses for East Africa, the United States and the Soviet Union.
The East African ambassador to the Netherlands said: "I suggest that everyone can negotiate calmly. Everyone comes here for peace, so we should seek common ground while reserving differences and abandon some stubborn and stereotyped ideas."
Dutch Prime Minister Kuyper also agreed, saying: "Europe can accommodate several major countries. There is no need to fight to the death. Only if everyone takes a step back without damaging their core interests can Europe have a better future."
Despite this, representatives from several belligerent countries still argued fiercely at the meeting, and the first meeting was interrupted several times, which made the East African and Dutch countries, who were trying to mediate, very busy.
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After all, the conferences and wars in Europe will not affect the current development of East African countries. As time goes by, the various data obtained by the East African governments will also be concentrated.
Rhine City.
The East African Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Resources, National Bureau of Statistics and other government departments recently organized a joint meeting to summarize and analyze the current energy production situation in East Africa.
Minister of Industry Mette said: "At present, our country's energy structure has undergone major changes. In addition to the stable production of coal, oil has become the most important energy source that cannot be obtained and replaced in the empire. The proportion of hydropower in the energy structure has increased significantly, and the exploitation and application of natural gas has also begun to be popularized on a large scale."
"Coal is still the primary energy source in my country and is widely used in steel, metallurgy, power generation and other fields."
"Throughout 1918, my country's coal production increased to more than 230 million tons, about 30 million tons higher than during the Third Five-Year Plan period, but the number of workers in coal-related industries dropped to 1.08 million."
The annual coal production in East Africa is not high, especially among the world's major powers. This figure is only comparable to the annual coal production of Britain and Germany. The annual coal production in the United States exceeded 200 million tons at the end of the 19th century, and now it is over 400 million tons.
The UK's current annual coal production is around 290 million tons, close to 300 million tons, while Germany is more modest than the UK, at around 270 million tons.
The United States, the United Kingdom, East Africa and Germany are the only four countries in the world whose coal production exceeds 200 million tons.
The production of France, Austria-Hungary and Russia all ranged from tens of millions of tons. France was constrained by the scarcity of natural conditions and lack of local coal resources, so its production could not be increased. Russia's production was caused by backward industry and underdeveloped technology. Austria-Hungary was between the two.
From this perspective, East Africa's coal production ranks fourth in the world, only behind the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, but its overall production is far ahead of other countries.
However, the total amount is one thing and the per capita amount is another. East Africa has now become the third most populous country in the world, second only to the Far East Empire and India. Therefore, compared with the United States, Britain and Germany, East Africa's coal production is relatively low.
Minister Mette also explained the reason for this result: "With the promotion of energy sources such as oil and natural gas, our country's coal mining industry has been impacted to a certain extent."
"With the development of energy sources such as oil, natural gas and hydropower, the gap between my country's coal production and that of the United States and Germany may further widen."
"But this is a good sign, because it shows that the empire's energy is diversified, so as to avoid the future difficulties faced by the empire in the UK today."
Britain is the world's second largest coal producer, not including the coal production of British colonies, but Britain's huge coal industry is facing serious problems.
On the one hand, with the steady advancement of the Second Industrial Revolution, the British coal industry has now reached its peak. Due to industrial restrictions, the powerful coal industry has become a constraint on British industry.
On the other hand, the UK's coal utilization efficiency is relatively low. Although its output is high, its utilization rate is lower than that of the United States, Germany, East Africa and other countries.
This can be seen from the steel industry of various countries. Although the United Kingdom is the world's fourth largest steel producer, its output is far behind East Africa, the United States and Germany.
This is actually understandable. Compared with the United Kingdom, East Africa, the United States and Germany are all late-developing industrial countries, so their technology, management, equipment and other aspects are updated faster than British coal companies.
"In terms of our own development, the development of oil, electricity and natural gas has had a great impact on the coal industry, and the UK itself maintains a large and old coal production system, which is not conducive to the subsequent industrial upgrading of the UK," said Mette.
"This also proves, to a certain extent, the benefits of energy diversification to the Empire's industrial production, especially at the strategic level, which effectively guarantees our country's energy security."
"In the field of coal alone, according to the final data, as of 1918, my country's proven coal reserves are as high as 60 billion tons. my country's coal resources are enough for the whole country to mine for hundreds of years."
Of course, East Africa's coal reserves are more than 60 billion tons. This is the data obtained by the East African government with the support of current technology and theory.
As theory develops, technology advances and time passes, more and more coal mines will be discovered in East Africa.
Mette said: "In addition to the increasing number of newly surveyed coal resources every year, the substitution of other energy sources can also ensure the empire's long-term competition with other major powers in the field of coal energy."
"In fact, in addition to the empire's domestic coal mining, imported coal has also become an important source of coal for the empire."
"In the past few years, we have increased our coal imports from Colombia and Australia, and we have also begun to develop coal production in the imperial colonies, especially in Kalimantan and Mindanao."
Although, based on what Ernst knew in his previous life, East Africa's coal resources were not as great as those in the United States, Russia, and the Far East Empire, the vast land area of East Africa had turned it into a country with abundant coal resources.
It can be said that according to public data from previous lives, more than 90% of Africa’s coal producing areas are located in East Africa, especially in the central and southern parts of East Africa.
Mette said: "Although coal has low combustion efficiency and high pollution compared to other energy sources such as oil, its advantages cannot be replaced by other energy sources, especially in the fields of steel, metallurgy and coal chemical industry."
"So coal will continue to maintain its position as the primary energy source, and we have formulated relevant plans to further expand the use of coal-related industries. In particular, scientific research in the fields of coal chemical industry and coal-to-oil is constantly advancing."
In the past, coal-to-oil technology was a technology that was valued by countries lacking oil resources, such as Germany, Japan, South Africa, and later the Far East Empire.
In the past, Germany was the first country to conduct research on coal-to-oil technology, but in the 21st century, it was South Africa that truly achieved large-scale promotion and application. The reason why South Africa has become the country with the most advanced technology is actually related to South Africa’s development. Since South Africa’s liberalization, Europe and the United States have launched a decades-long blockade against South Africa.
This includes an oil embargo on South Africa. South Africa itself is a country with extremely scarce oil resources, but it has the richest coal reserves in Africa. Therefore, under the leadership of the South African government, coal-to-oil technology has made breakthroughs and developments in South Africa.
Therefore, it is no wonder that the Far Eastern Empire in the past always talked about energy security, although East Africa got rid of the dilemma of lack of oil resources through colonial expansion.
However, East Africa does not have much oil resources and most of them are distributed in the northern region. Although the overseas colonies are rich in oil resources, their geographical location is not safe, so East Africa has never stopped working on coal-to-oil technology.
In fact, the East African government has begun researching this technology since the 1990s, but with the diversification of oil acquisition channels today, progress has slowed down.
What East Africa really values at the current stage is coal chemical industry. To a certain extent, coal-to-oil belongs to the category of coal chemical industry, but coal-to-oil is mainly used to deal with energy problems, while coal chemical industry involves more fields and can bring a large number of chemical products. The market prospects are very broad.
Mette said: "The coal industry is one of the important cornerstones of East Africa's economic development, especially in important areas such as steel, metallurgy, chemicals, and power generation, so we will continue to promote its technological development."
"Currently, oil is the second largest fossil energy source in the Empire. Since the beginning of this century, the Empire has long been the world's largest producer of refined oil."
"In 1918, the Empire's production of refined oil reached more than 300 million barrels, more than the rest of the world combined."
"The oil industry plays a supporting role in public transportation, machinery, automobiles, chemicals and other areas. It can be said that the development of the oil industry is an important force driving my country's emerging industries."
Currently, the world's oil production is mainly concentrated in four regions, namely East Africa, North America, Eastern Europe, and finally South America. The oil production of these four places accounts for more than 90% of the world's total, and East Africa alone accounts for more than 70% of the production of refined oil.
Minister Mette said: "The contribution of oil energy to the development of the Empire's industry is even greater than that of coal, especially in emerging industries. Without oil, there would be no major development of emerging industries such as chemical industry, railways, and automobiles."
"Without the development of the oil industry, my country's industry will always be a follower of European and American countries in many fields, rather than an innovator."
"For example, in the railway sector, the emergence of diesel locomotives has greatly improved the transportation efficiency of our railways. If we just copy European and American countries, then we are just simply copying them in terms of railways."
"Needless to say, the automobile industry has directly changed the landscape of the world's transportation industry, putting East Africa's economic development on the fast track. Combined with the railways, it has made the Empire's land transportation efficiency rank first in the world."
"The chemical industry is also highly dependent on oil. Currently, the petrochemical industry has grown to a considerable scale and generates relatively lucrative profits. It has huge potential and is an important driving force that may push my country's science and technology and industry to surpass Europe and the United States."
"In addition to coal and oil, the most important is hydropower. Electricity, as an energy source, is relatively complex to produce. Coal, oil and natural gas can all be used as raw materials for power generation."
"Therefore, we have listed hydropower separately and put it on the same level as the three major fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas."
"In 1918, my country's hydroelectric power generation accounted for more than 30% of the country's total power generation, which greatly promoted the rapid development of a number of cities and industries, especially in areas rich in water resources."
"The power industry is related to electrolytic aluminum, machinery, lighting, industrial and household electricity, and has great economic and social value."
"my country is one of the countries with the richest water resources. The application of water resources has greatly reduced our use of coal, oil and natural gas."
"Hydropower itself is a renewable resource, which greatly reduces the consumption of fossil energy and also reduces the pressure and cost of mining and transportation of other energy sources."
"The transportation of oil and coal depends on railways and roads, while the construction of natural gas pipelines requires a lot of costs. Relatively speaking, electricity can be more conveniently transmitted across the country through high-voltage transmission, and has less impact on social production and life activities."
At present, among the four major energy sources in East Africa, except for coal, the output of all of them ranks first in the world, which is also one of the reasons for the booming development of East Africa's industry.
"Our industry ministry's vision for the future of Empire Energy remains diversification and improving resource efficiency," said Mette.
"Promote the production technology progress of coal, a traditional energy source, in the industrial field, including improving the degree of mechanized mining, further popularizing large-scale excavators in large mines, equipping more transport vehicles, reducing the number of workers in dangerous jobs, and improving the safety of the working environment of front-line workers."
“While strengthening the steady increase in coal production, we will continue to update equipment and technology to improve production efficiency and worker safety.”
The number of people directly employed in coal production in East Africa is as high as one million. After the end of the slave economy, the previous management, equipment configuration and technology of East African coal mines are no longer applicable, especially for some small coal mines.
In the past, coal mining in East Africa could ignore and sacrifice the lives and safety of black workers, and increase production through high-intensity operations. Now, these problems must be solved by increasing the degree of mechanization.
"In the field of oil production, we will further search for new oil fields throughout the country, and search and invest in more oil fields overseas to ensure the empire's long-term demand for oil resources in the future."
"Build more water conservancy facilities, especially the Daxing Water Conservancy Project, to further increase the proportion of hydropower in energy production, reduce energy production costs, and reduce the burden on domestic enterprises and residents."
"Finally, we will build a number of large-scale pipeline networks across the country to transport liquid fuels such as oil and natural gas, further reducing the pressure and burden of energy transportation on roads and railways, while saving transportation costs."
After all, oil and natural gas are flammable and explosive items, and the risks of transporting them are relatively high.
After Minister Mette finished his report, other departments also expressed their views on the current energy issues in East Africa.
Overall, East Africa's demands for energy are reflected in many aspects, including reducing production and transportation costs, improving utilization efficiency, paying attention to scientific and technological research and development, and finally maintaining energy security.
This sense of crisis also reflects the East African government's concerns about its own energy, especially coal and oil. Although East Africa has certain reserves in these two areas, its endowment is not top-notch, like the United States and Russia. In fact, if the Far East Empire had not had such a large population in its previous life, its energy endowment would have been higher than that of East Africa.
Of course, the big countries mentioned here are all countries with a certain base of land area and population. Although Germany is very strong, it cannot be considered big compared with the above-mentioned countries. However, Germany's land area and population size were sufficient at the beginning of this century.
(End of this chapter)
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