Chapter 501: Energy Regulation (Monthly Votes Plus)
Chapter 490: Energy Regulation (Monthly Votes Plus)
The electric power revolution was not just about lighting, some small appliances without much technical content, also began to come into being.
For example: the electric fan is one of the accidental products, the inventor is a skilled worker.
The cause was still to cool down the equipment, he disliked the mechanical fan use is not aspect, want to create a kind of fan without human operation.
He added a piece of iron to the electric motor, connected to the power supply and the blades turned rapidly, and the earliest electric fan was born.
Originally, Franz thought that another great scientist was born, but after investigation, he found that this was an ordinary skilled worker. In addition to the accidental invention of the electric fan, I have no talent for scientific research.
The reality of the case once again proved that scientific and technological inventions are full of coincidence. There are many similar cases, many practical scientific and technological inventions are ordinary people come up with.
This strengthened Franz’s determination to increase the number of hands-on classes in education, so from 1871, Austrian students had another practical class.
It was like a latter-day saying: a real schoolboy, that is, able to build a nuclear reactor in his own garage.
This kind of talent is what Austria needs most. Coming to the forefront of the technological revolution, now Austria has no object to copy, the original cottage empire, now have to carry out their own innovation.
This aspect of Franz rarely intervene, a country wants to be really strong, must have the ability to independently forward research and development, rather than being led by the nose by him, the emperor.
The results of the previous life can certainly be used to minimize detours, however, for a country, this can only be used as an aid. Once it became dependent, it would be a disaster.
Usually Franz just mention the demand, exactly how to realize, that is the matter of scientists. Success is good, failure is no harm, scientific research is never smooth sailing, not through the storm is impossible.
Of course, this was also related to Franz’s attribute of being a scum in his previous life. As an ordinary person, never just enjoy the convenience of technology, who cares about how these technological products are made?
With the little bit of knowledge that he saw on the internet, it was fine if he didn’t take it out. If you really took it out, it would be bad instead.
The economic conference is still continuing, this time everyone is discussing, how to promote the popularization of electricity technology. Summarized a total of two points:
One is, to the enterprises engaged in the power industry tax cuts, through this way, reduce the operating costs of the power company;
Secondly, to reduce the price of raw materials, or the price of copper and rubber, so as to reduce the cost of the process of promoting electricity.
The means is so rough, not so much technical content. Any new technology promotion, the first problem to face is the cost.
Only if the cost is within the controllable range, then it has economic value; only if it has economic value first, then it can be promoted in the market.
The birth of electricity has been many years, why only now began to promote? It is not because of the birth of high-power generators, the cost of power generation to the market within the affordable range.
Now a power only needs 500 grams of coal, if it is high calorie coal, this consumption is also smaller, the cost has been in the market within the acceptable range.
Looking at the crowd controversy, Franz also can not help but want to speak. But he held back, and during the intermission, Franz summoned the prime minister alone.
Austria is not short of coal, in terms of reserves on the continent of Europe only after the Russian Empire, this is the advantage of a large territory. The quality of this coal, however, is difficult to say.
“Prime Minister, I suddenly realized a problem, the domestic coal mines are mostly lignite, these coals can be used for fire or power generation, but not for steel making.
Now that the domestic demand for steel is growing day by day, the demand for bituminous coal will also grow dramatically in the future, for long-term development considerations, it is now necessary for us to subdivide the types of industrial coal.”
(Remark: only a small amount of coking coal exists in nature, which can be used directly for steelmaking, most of it is produced by processing bituminous coal)
After thinking about it, Prime Minister Felix shook his head and said, “Your Majesty, not so much! The coal reserves in the country are still quite abundant, and at the current rate of consumption, even if it lasts for five hundred years it will be enough.
The reserves of bituminous coal for steel making are not too high, but that’s still enough. Even if the demand for steel increases tenfold, these coals will be enough to last for hundreds of years, and for such a long time, it’s too early for us to think about these problems.
There are many more issues involved in making industrial coal classification mandatory now. Many areas that produce bituminous coal have to pay high prices to buy lignite from the outside world, which increases the cost of industrial production and is not conducive to economic development.”
This is the reality of the problem, and if the classification of coal is mandatory, we will have to face this economic problem.
The demand for coal resources in this era is not too great, and the energy issue has not yet entered the public eye.
Moreover, it should not be noted that iron and steel are often linked together, but in fact the use of coal for “steelmaking” and “ironmaking” is not the same.
At present, Austria produces more than 6 million tons of steel annually, but in fact the first 6 million tons are iron, and only the last several hundred thousand tons are steel.
With such a low steel production, the demand for bituminous coal is naturally low. Even if it were increased tenfold, the actual steel production would be only a few million tons, and this amount of steel would likewise not consume much coal.
Franz began to hesitate, the actual situation seems to be a little more than expected, Austria’s bituminous coal reserves are not too high, but the industrial demand is even smaller.
After some thought, Franz decided to push on with the classification of industrial coal, but in a different, less radical way.
This was not something to be taken for granted, but a decision that Franz made after careful consideration. He believed that Austria’s future demand for steel would climb rapidly, and perhaps by the end of the century this demand would exceed ten million tons.
Then the demand for bituminous coal should also be increased accordingly, if before this, successfully get the Rhineland region, have the Ruhr region of coal resources to supplement, then naturally there is no shortage of coal.
But everything has an accident, if there is a change in the middle, Austria in a short period of time to get the Ruhr area of coal, then the domestic production of bituminous coal can meet the demand?
This question, no one can answer. Since this is the case, Franz of course to save for a rainy day. Even if it is a useless effort, it is better than when the need arises, actually found that the supply of high-quality bituminous coal is insufficient.
After a great deal of effort, Franz was able to convince Prime Minister Felix. Perhaps now Felix even think this is mediocre, just in the way of the emperor’s face to accept.
This is irrelevant, Franz are only focus on the results. As long as the purpose is achieved, the process of some twists and turns does not matter.
The content of the two men’s conversation, naturally, no one knows. Because of this little episode, the meeting intermission time was also extended.
With both the Emperor and the Prime Minister absent, the meeting naturally could not go on. It was similar to an ordinary meeting, one had to wait for the important leaders to arrive before being able to start.
The staff was very perceptive, and during the break, they brought coffee, pastries, and today’s newly issued newspaper to the crowd.
Perhaps feeling that it was not good to keep so many people waiting, after about twenty minutes had passed, the two walked into the conference room and the meeting continued.
When the meeting was about to end, Prime Minister Felix said with a depressed expression:
“Gentlemen, don’t forget that electricity generation requires coal, and although there is a lot of coal production in the country, we also need to prioritize steelmaking.
In the future, the domestic demand for steel is going to see a surge. And the domestic coal production, more than eighty percent are lignite, suitable for steelmaking bituminous coal production is less than twenty percent, of which less than five percent of high-quality coal.
Now it is necessary to introduce an energy law to ensure the safety of steelmaking coal by law. Of course, this can not be forced by administrative means, mainly by economic means to regulate the market supply.
In a nutshell, it is to let the most suitable coal for steelmaking, all used in steelmaking, in order to make the best quality steel, and let the rest of the ordinary coal flow into the market.”
It was evident that Prime Minister Felix was not so much of a petitioner. Of course this was limited to Franz, and the answer was seen differently in the eyes of different people. Many of the officials interpreted it directly as “apprehension” and had that look because they were worried about the problem.
This is still a bit far-fetched, but it is more acceptable than Franz’s statement. It is basic knowledge that only the best quality coal can make the best quality steel.
Economic means to regulate, very simple and rough, the Vienna government also has a similar successful experience, is to give the high quality coal to increase the tax.
If the quality coal goes into the steel mills to make steel, then the tax will be refunded; if it goes into other areas, naturally, it will not be entitled to a tax rebate.
The advantage of doing so is very obvious, is to raise the price of high-quality coal. If the price is high, the competitiveness of the market will be low, at least the power plants will not buy these high-quality coal.
Stimulated by the profit, the capitalists will make their own market adjustments. The only problem is regulation, not being able to let them evade taxes.
This is all a minor issue in comparison. Having a law and not having a law are two different concepts. Even if they secretly evade taxes, it is only on a small scale.
Only if the number of people involved is small can it be kept secret. If you make the scale bigger, it will be difficult to escape the monitoring of the tax authorities.
Besides, even if the coal sellers are willing to take the risk, the coal buyers may not be willing to do so.
Even if the tax is evaded, the price of high-quality coal cannot be lower than that of ordinary coal, which is not a big difference for many people, but the risk is very big.
Even if you can’t get caught, if you do, the consequences will be severe. It is not uncommon for people to be fined to the point of losing all of their money, or even go to prison to reflect on their mistakes.
Prime Minister Felix’s proposal, the opposition is not small, but still barely passed in the meeting. Franz’s little gesture was close to explicitly stating that the Emperor was in favor of the proposal.
Throwing the issue out at the economic conference was actually an attempt to share the pressure. As a rule, the contents of all high-level meetings in Austria were kept secret from the public.
Officials attending the meeting, it is also impossible to announce to the outside world: I am against ×××× the law. Have become the law, where is an official is qualified to oppose, can do just comply.
The outside world is not clear how much opposition exists in the government, which will make many people misjudge. The grievances of those with compromised interests will be carried by all.
There are too many officials involved, instead, no one dares to make a demon. This policy will not have the slightest impact on the general public, who have never been faithful users of cheap coal.
Except for the coal bosses, almost all of them will not be affected. After all, what the government regulates is only that part of bituminous coal that is of the best quality, and it’s not like it will affect anyone else’s interests.
If we were to talk about losses, it was Franz himself who had the most to lose. Without realizing it, he had become the largest coal supplier in Austria.
This was the benefit of buying in the first place, when the railroads had not yet been built and the mines in the deep forests were not worth much.
But with the completion of the Great Railway Project, now every city in Austria has a railroad, the original transportation problem is no longer a problem.
Transportation problems solved, able to transport minerals out, which makes a lot of buried in the mountains and forests of the mine, also has an economic value, mining barons so raised.
This little loss Franz does not care, after all, this policy there are beneficiaries – steel companies, left hand to right hand problem.
Losses on the coal mines, and took back from the steel business, in the dark he likewise invested in heavy industry.
This is the terrible thing about the consortium, with a complete industrial chain, the ability to resist risk far exceeds that of ordinary enterprises.
To this day, a huge royal consortium has been lurking in Austria. If all the assets are exposed, it is enough to make all the consortiums in the world ashamed.
Obviously it is impossible to expose, the bottom card is naturally hidden as deep as possible. Although the royal consortium is linked together if at all, in reality, it has long been divided into several parts of existence, or rather several consortia exist.
Franz is just a remote control in the dark, these separate consortia, the same has a large group of allies, forming a community of interest.
On the surface certain consortiums, still opposed to each other, from time to time because of the interests of the fight. To say that they were one family, even if the evidence was laid out in front of them, it was estimated that not many people would believe it.
This is still a beginning, with the rise of new industries, the future of these consortia also snowballed and grew, increasing Franz’s control over the country.
(End of chapter)