Uncategorized – Page 9 – Not Your Average Engineer

The book opens with the affairs leading up to World War II. Jews in German controlled lands fell under many new restrictive laws including one not often cited in American history books which required all Jewish held accounts to be transferred to special accounts under the control of the Minister of Economic Affairs. Reparations amounting to millions of Deutsch Marks for the murder of an official at the German embassy in Paris were to be skimmed from all Jewish accounts.

Under the heavy weight of Nazi controlled Germany, many affluent and well educated Jews left for other parts of Europe, England, and the USA. Some specific names the author wished to pick out of those leaving for England included Rudolf Peirls, Franz Simon, Dr. Kurti, Dr. Kuhn, Max Born, and Otto Frisch.

Against the backdrop of Jewish persecution the story of Dr. Hahn and Professor Lise Meitner played out. Professor Meitner, a Jewish physicist from Vienna, along with Dr. Hahn, the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, were the first to realize that they had split a uranium atom. Because of progressively stricter laws regarding Jewish professors, Professor Meitner was forced to flee to Sweden before the research was complete. Dr. Hahn, requiring a top-notch theoretician, called upon the exiled Meitner to solve the final pieces of the fission puzzle.

Frederic Joliot-Currie, the head of the French team which first grasped the potential of a nuclear weapon and atomic reactor was also introduced. His team did much of the earliest theoretical research and experimentation related to atomic energy and the bomb.

The British government, seeing all-out war on the horizon and with the inkling of an idea of how important nuclear research might become, attempted to secure the uranium supplies in the Belgian Congo in May of 1939. They were not successful in securing the ore but did succeed in alerting the Belgians to remain vigilant.

Chapter 2: First Failures

The French team, proceeding along with their research, takes out the first five patents on a nuclear bomb and reactor. The issue of prior patents resurfaces several times during the development of the bomb project in Britain.

Soon, the French are joined in their research by Britain and Germany. Germany’s entry was played down as a half-hearted attempt with little chance of success. Britain’s effort was cast in the best of lights.

The British project found a home in the Committee for Scientific Survey of Air Defense, also known as the Tizard Committee after the man who ran it. Because of the secretive nature of RADAR and other vital national defense projects, only British scientists were allowed to participate. In fact, natural born British scientists were completely drawn away from such theoretical fields as nuclear weapons to the secret national defense projects. However, because of the secretive nature of these projects, non-native scientists were left largely in the cold and with little to do. This allowed these non-native researchers and theoreticians to spend some time thinking about the potential for an atomic bomb.

Initial thoughts are that an atomic bomb is impossible due to the difficulty of separating U235 from U238.

Chapter 3: Second Thoughts

The French team, still hard at work on the theory behind the bomb, makes the first critical mass calculations. Their best guess is 40 tons.

As the summer winds down and professors get ready to head back to their university labs, war breaks out in Europe. In Britain, many arrangements were made in the lead-up to the war to have scientists automatically transfer to key war-time positions. Now, with the start of the war, scientists are reshuffled into new positions and new research.

As was mentioned in the previous chapter, only British physicists were affected by these new assignments. The non-native physicists were able to occupy themselves with the bomb. Of particular note were Peierls and Frisch.

Initially, everyone thought of the bomb as just another weapon to be used against armies according to the conventional rules of war. No one thought that it would be used against civilian targets. The author touches upon this basic misunderstanding of the weapon repeatedly throughout the book.

Research into the bomb was spurred on by the fear that the Germans and maybe even the Italians were far ahead on nuclear research specifically to develop a weapon. The descriptions of what a dictatorship is capable of in terms of raw effort filled many pages. The general consensus seemed to be that if the Germans or Italians put their minds to it, a bomb would quickly become a reality.

The 10^th of April, 1940 went down as an important date in nuclear history. It marks the first time that a government sponsored committee met to discus the development of a nuclear weapon in any country in the world. That honor goes to Britain.

Chapter 4: France Wins the Heavy Water

The French team, progressing rapidly with their research, decided that heavy water was the best route to go for further atomic research. Enlisting the help of Lieutenant Jacques Allier, the team managed to secure all of Norsk Hydro’s heavy water supply. It was smuggled by Allier and his associates from Norway to the UK via airplane. The undercover French military officers and their cargo of heavy water proceeded by train down the length of Britain and finally across the channel by boat with their precious cargo.

Chapter 5: Search for the Bomb

In yet another first for the world, Britain is the first to install a committee with government funding to conduct research on the atomic bomb. The Thomson Committee, as its known, was setup in April 1940 with a modest startup fund.

This chapter also introduced another, more famous committee. The Maud committee was founded. Several theories behind the naming of the committee were proposed including a few which proved that the name was rather poorly chosen regardless of where it originated.

Overshadowing all other events in the realms of Britain, the Battle of Britain raged on in the skies above London. Scientists in some circles began worrying about “dirty bombs” and thus began testing some of the craters left behind in London to make sure that Germany wasn’t trying to contaminate London with radiation.

As the war progressed and Belgium came under threat, the Belgian Congolese ore was quietly spirited away to safer locations, eventually ending up in two warehouses in New York City.

Another first for Britain was mentioned in this chapter: Klaus Fuchs, the atomic spy. He was only mentioned one or two other times in the book in spite of the large role he played in sharing atomic secrets with the Russians.

In addition to everything else going on in this chapter, a British research team began investigating gaseo
us barrier diffusion material. Initial ideas included hammering wire gauze flat to make very fine holes and beating gold mesh in the same manner. Neither method worked. Various techniques used in lithography were also investigated. One, in fact, proved quite promising.

Chapter 6: The French Team Reaches Britain

This chapter was occupied entirely with the escape of the French scientists from a quickly crumbling free France. Most of the scientists, all of the heavy water, and their radium sample made it to Britain safely. A notable exception was Joliot-Curie who stayed behind to fight against the Nazis as part of the French Underground. He came to head the group and even went so far as to build bombs and other weapons for the effort in a laboratory adjacent to a Nazi research lab. The author implies that, had he been taken to Britain, work on the bomb might have progressed much faster.

Chapter 7: A Plan for the Bomb

The Battle of Britain continued through this chapter with bombs raining down on London every night. Against the sounds of bomb blasts, plans for security and secrecy were discussed. Ruses and counterintelligence were implemented to throw the Germans off.

Klaus Fuchs was once again mentioned in this chapter in relation to the security restrictions placed on all foreign-nationals within Britain that were not lifted for nuclear scientists specifically to keep German spies from suspecting anything was in the works. Restrictions went as far as to prohibit foreigners from owning bicycles or traveling without special permit.

This chapter marked the turning point from people asking the question of if the bomb could be built to if it should be built. At this stage the concern was not the effects of the bomb but, rather, the expense and manpower drain during the particularly dark days of the Battle of Britain.

Another first for Britain, via the remnants of the French team, now installed at Cambridge, was the first hard set of calculations and experiments showing that a nuclear reactor would work.

Chapter 8: The Bomb and the Boiler

The effort in Britain now split into two distinct tasks: the “bomb” and the “boiler”. The bomb was, naturally, a uranium bomb while the boiler was a nuclear reactor that also could be used to create the newly discovered element plutonium which could also be used to create a nuclear weapon. It was decided that most war-time work would focus on the bomb as the boiler would take longer to produce and was not immediately a weapon. Another strike against the boiler came as scientists at the time had never seen enough plutonium in one place to adequately measure its chemical properties. Perhaps if they had, the boiler would have been pursued more readily.

An interesting side note in this chapter comes from the naming of element 94, plutonium. The author claims that the name was chosen independently in both Britain and America at roughly the same time.

In yet another first for Britain, the various committees start to involve industry, specifically Imperial Chemical Industries, in the industrialization of the project. The race for the bomb moved out of the laboratory and into the factory first in Britain. Imperial Chemical Industries pursued, along with the scientists, gaseous diffusion barrier technology. Moving away from initial attempts using wire gauze and mesh, the British effort focused on lithographic processes used in photo printing in newspapers to literally print new hole patterns.

One first that Britain clearly would like to forget came in the thoughts of transferring parts of the project to Canada or the United States. There was talk of transferring development work of the boiler to ICI in the UK and DuPont in America to allow private industry to develop the power applications of the reactor.

In what could be described as the high point of the British effort, the Maud Report is issued. The author states that this was the first time that any official report said the bomb would work.

Chapter 9: The Other Side of the Hill

The German effort to build the bomb was never far from British scientists’ minds. The British scientists attempted to track the movement of German scientists by scrutinizing German scientific papers, lectures, and journals. The security apparatus of Britain also attempted to discover if, in fact, Germany was working on the bomb. Some of the officers involved stated that it was an almost impossible task to definitivel
y prove that the Germans were not working on the bomb. The allies would not know until the end of the war that Germany had not developed its own bomb.

One successful British intelligence effort in this chapter came in the form of the destruction of the heavy water production cells at Norsk Hydro and the loss of the last Norsk Hydro stocks of heavy water bound for Germany.

With the loss of the heavy water, Germany’s bid for the bomb failed. The author continued on to say that the German effort progressed no farther than efforts in Britain in 1939 and in general belittled German efforts.

Chapter 10: The British Decision

This chapter sees the British reach a decision point in their effort. Four questions surface which will define the extent of British involvement for the rest of the war.

Should the bomb be built?

Should the reactor be built?

Should the reactor be built by private industry or the government?

Should the Americans be involved?

It was decided that the bomb should be built out of fear of a German bomb and of the fear that it would be the only way to retake the continent in the event that America didn’t enter the war and Russia fell to Germany. An outright offensive on Nazi-controlled Europe by the then-lone Britain would have been suicidal without the aid of the bomb or the Americans.

The reactor, after some hesitation, would be pursued but not as an immediate weapon of war or power source for World War II. In spite of initial commitments by both the government and private industry, the responsibility of reactor development would stay firmly within government hands.

In what was to become the death-knell for British ownership of the bomb, the British effort linked up with the American effort and began preparing for the transfer scientists and research to America.

Chapter 11: The Americans Take Over

A previously hesitant America was suddenly launched into all-out war by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This event also marked the real kickoff of the American bomb project. Soon, the American project would vacuum up most of the allied nuclear physicists and scientists.

Before the bulk of British atomic research and development was transferred to America, Britain had one more first. The first prototype diffusion plant was built in Wales in the early days of 1942. It was connected to a poison gas factory to mask its true intent. Britain, however, was soon to loose its nuclear research monopoly.

British scientific teams began streaming to the American project in 1943. Many of the foreign scientists were hurriedly rushed through the naturalization process and often times only received their new British passports as the boarded ships for America. American customs officials were often times suspicious of the incoming British nuclear scientists due to their brand new passports and non-English accents.

Initially Britain and America went in on the bomb project as equal partners with information and decision making supposedly flowing in both directions. Soon, however, even Churchill recognized that Britain was being shut out of major decisions and was not receiving the full picture. In the end, the decision to drop the bomb was made by America largely without British input in spite of several previous agreements that both countries would have to approve of the use of atomic weapons.

The author stated that the reason for Britain being muscled around was the sheer size of the American effort. In Britain, the scientists had decided to pursue the uranium bomb rather than plutonium. In America both were pursued at the same time. America had the distinct advantage and used it to her advantage against Britain.

This chapter also sees the daring escape of Bohr from Denmark to the UK via a boat ride to Sweden and a harrowing airplane flight to Scotland. Once Bohr learned of the development of the bomb he proposed that the details of the bomb should be shared with the Russians as soon as possible. Other scientist also took up his calls of scientific openness with the Russians. Bohr soon went on to America to consult on the developmen
t of the bomb.

Work on the first atomic pile outside of the United States began in Canada as a joint project between the USA, Britain, and to a lesser extent, Canada. It was portrayed as mainly a British endeavor.

Chapter 12: The End Product

The bomb suddenly was realized in all its horror over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945. The word was roughly and irreversibly shoved into the atomic age. In Britain many did not understand why the bomb had been dropped on Japan when the Japanese atomic program clearly had come to nothing. The author went to great lengths to explain the difference between firebombing and dropping an atomic bomb on a city in spite of a similar number of casualties and devastating effects.

After Japan was bombed, the Americans quickly rolled out several press releases claiming credit for the development of the bomb. This caught Tube Alloys, the official code name given to the group charged with developing atomic weapons for Britain, by surprise. Tube Alloys issued their own press statement several days later trying to set the record straight. Unfortunately for British ego, most of the world ignored Britain’s contribution to the bomb.

The author puts forth the claim that, had America not entered the war and show interest in the bomb, the bomb would have been built by Britain in Canada with minimal American help. Even with the prize of the first bomb going to America, the author found many other reasons to be proud of Britain.

The book closes with British scientists returning to their labs to resume work on a purely British bomb. The last paragraph sums up many peoples’ concerns of the bomb and of scientific research: the dilemma of ensuring that ideas are used in the best way possible, responsibly, and only after due thought to the consequences. It clearly was not a new problem but, with the dawn of the atomic age, it suddenly took on a new urgency.

Tie-ins

Our Textbook

The links between Richard Rhodes’ book, “The Making of the Atomic Bomb,” and Ronald W. Clark’s “The Birth of the Bomb,” are many and obvious. The first ten chapters of Rhodes book are largely dedicated to the early efforts of the Germans, the French, and the British. References to further British involvement are peppered throughout the later parts of Rhodes’ book.

For instance, the Maud report weighed heavily on the full-scale launch of the atomic bomb project in America. The first demonstration of fission in Germany by Hahn started the whole process and the work of many scientists from Britain on the Manhattan project proved invaluable. Also, the first nuclear spy, Klaus Fuchs, came to the project via Britain. All of these events were emphasized in Rhodes’ book and, for the most part, also emphasized in Clark’s book.

The Movies

One obvious tie-in comes in the form of the movie, “Hitler’s A-Bomb,” on the destruction of Norsk Hydro and the German heavy water stocks. It expanded Clark’s few paragraphs on the subject into a full made-for-tv movie on the subject complete with historic reenactments and computer simulations of events as they would have happened.

The rest of the movies had little tie-in with Clark’s book.

Analysis and Commentary

Eurocentric

The first thing that struck me about this book was its Eurocentric attitude. Atomic research in America was only cursorily mentioned while the efforts in France and especially Britain were given center stage.

Anglocentric

Not surprisingly, the author was very anglocentric in his writing. He constantly was
pointing out firsts for Britain as a sport announcer would call out goals, baskets, or touchdowns in a competitive sporting event. I didn’t find anything particularly wrong with this approach to relaying the story of the atomic bomb project but in the end this book can only stand in connection to another, more comprehensive book on the overall allied effort to build an atomic weapon. Were this read in absence of knowledge of the American effort, a person would get the impression that Britain did everything short of actually building and dropping the bomb.

One thing I found rather interesting was the allusions to Klaus Fuchs’s spying activities. Rather than take credit for one of the biggest security breaches during World War II, it was only mentioned in passing and without noting any role played by Britain aside from Fuchs’s connection with the British atomic effort. It is an understatement to think that perhaps the author only wishes to show Britain in a positive light.

Pomp and Circumstance

In fact, it seems that the entire point of this book was to recast the development of the atomic bomb from a primarily American affair to a European and primarily British affair. While true that the Germans did discover fission and the French were the first and largest on the early research scene, Britain’s roll is highly overemphasized. This text was almost surely devoured by the British public eager for something to be proud of as Britain quickly lost her empire throughout the mid 20^th century.

In light of the loss of Empire, this book makes much more sense. Britain had just lost Nigeria to independence and would loose Sierra Leon and Tanganyika the same year this book was published. A short time later the bulk of the remaining British colonies in Africa would find themselves free from British rule and the British would find that they lacked an empire of which to be proud.

Much Ado About Nothing?

An open question in my mind remains. How truly significant was the British contribution to the development of the first atomic weapons? This book clearly puts the onus on Britain and her physicists and scientists. Other texts generally place most of the contributions to the atomic bomb on the shoulders of the Americans. Clearly, America invested the manpower and resources to build the infrastructure and work out the details of atomic weapons. There is some doubt in my mind whether or not Britain, with the help of Canada, would have been able to fully unlock the secrets and weaponize the bomb.

Certainly, had Britain and her Empire remained the only power checking Nazi expansionism, the British would have aggressively pursued bomb research and development but would they have had enough men, enough money, and enough resources? After the war the answer was yes with the first British atomic weapon being tested in 1952. In light of the first soviet atomic bomb test in 1949, it seems that Britain, armed with nearly the same information as the USSR, should have been able to produce the bomb faster. Perhaps, as the author outlined in chapter 3, the dictatorial aspects of the USSR allowed for a quicker completion of atomic research than in the more democratic and open Britain.

Bottom Line

This book did exactly what it was supposed to. It showcased British developments that lead to the first atomic bomb. It helped boost British moral during the swift decline of the empire. Finally, it put a decided European and British spin on the birth of the atomic bomb.

References

Rhodes, Richard. (1986). The Making of the Atomic Bomb

Clark, Ronald W. (1961). The Birth of the Bomb. London: Phoenix House LTD.

“Hitler’s A-Bomb: Greatest Raids of World War II.” The History Channel.

March 19, 2006July 1, 2020

Chinese Energy Policy

I don’t know why I’m posting this right now. It’s a term paper from the fall. Perhaps someone will get a giggle out of it.

ENGR350H
December 3, 2005
Chinese Energy Security

China has a long history of self sufficiency. Until recently, all energy consumed within China was domestically produced. Within the last two decades, China has become an energy importer. Energy security is a hot topic in many of the power circles of Beijing. This paper discusses current energy demands, the energy mix, energy security threats, the energy security debate, future energy expansion, and the implications for sustainability.

Energy Demands

China’s economy is energy hungry. It generated an estimated 1.91 terawatts (TW) of electricity in 2003 (CIA – The World Factbook). It consumed an estimated 6.53 million barrels of crude oil a day (bbl/d), of which 2.91 million were imported, in 2004. Consumption of coal was estimated at 1.53 billion short tons and natural gas at 1.21 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) for 2003(China Country Analysis Brief).

By comparison, the USA consumes 20.8 million bbl/d, of which 12.2 million is imported. Electrical generation is at 3.839 TW (CIA – World Fact Book), coal consumption is at 1.102 billion short tons, and natural gas consumption runs at 22.4 Tcf(United States).

In British Thermal Units (BTUs), China consumes approximately 52 peta-BTUs while
the USA consumes 97 peta-BTU’s. In terms of energy consumed per capita, China consumes 40 million BTUs compared to the USA at 333 million BTUs (China’s Energy Outlook).

While the USA currently consumes more energy than China, indications are that China will surpass the USA in oil consumption by 2023 (A Strangling Embrace). China already consumes more coal than America (CIA – The World Factbook) and will soon surpass the rest of the world in other forms of non-renewable energy consumption.

The dramatic increase of energy consumption in China has been and continues to be fueled by strong economic growth rates of around 9% per year (CIA – World Factbook). All indications are that robust growth will continue for the foreseeable future.

Mix of Energy

In 2002 China’s primary energy supply was divided among several renewable and non-renewable sources. Coal accounted for 57.6%, oil for 19.6%, renewable and waste for 17.7%, gas for 2.6%, hydro for 2.0%, and nuclear for 0.5% (IEA Energy Statistics).

Over the last 30 years, coal has by far seen the largest percent increase in the energy mix. Nuclear has also seen modest increases but this is due to the relative recent introduction of nuclear power into China’s energy supply. In absolute terms, most sources of energy have stayed constant while coal consumption has tripled (IEA Energy Statistics).

China looks set to continue coal consumption increases.

Energy Security Threats

A number of threats exist to China’s energy security. They include both threats from other countries and threats from within.

China is in an ongoing dispute with Japan over natural gas and oil reserves in the East China Sea. According to Japanese reconnaissance data, China recently brought on its first drilling platform and is expected to bring five more online by the end of the year. The new platforms are protected by a small contingent of Chinese warships. Japan is threatening to dispatch its own drilling platforms escorted by a fleet of coastguard vessels. At stake are an estimated 7 Tcf of natural gas and 100 billion barrels of oil (Faiola, Anthony).

The rapidly increasing demand for oil, fueled largely by growth in automobile use, has left China particularly vulnerable. Currently, a majority of China’s oil imports come through the South China Sea and must pass quite close to Taiwan. The American Military’s presence in the Straights of Taiwan creates a potential flashpoint for disruption of China’s energy supply lines.

One of the largest threats to Chinese energy security is also one of the largest threats to the rest of the oil importing world’s energy security. Many of the major oil and natural gas exporting regions of the world happen to fall over politically and socially unstable countries. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is of particular concern. A disruption in production in Saudi Arabia could have potentially grave consequences in China. This is due to China’s reliance on the global oil market.

China also faces threats from within. Repeated attacks against power generation and distribution systems throughout China in recent years have raised alarm among some party officials. Thieves have also been quite active, sabotaging many high tension electric lines in search of scrap metal. It is not entirely clear who is behind the attacks and sabotage. Separatists, thieves, and international saboteurs all have been named as possible culprits by various sources. The official word is that inclement weather and thieves are behind the majority of the service disruptions (Lie, Ma).

Energy Security Debate and Future Energy Expansion

Beginning at about the same time as China’s shift from a net oil exporter to a net oil importer, the security, defense, political, and business communities within China began wrestling with issues of national energy security. Several different schools of thought have developed.

One school of thought wants to continue business as usual. They want to continue letting the market dictate energy policy. A focus is placed on energy importation by the cheapest and most economically viable methods available. If it turns out that oil importation from the Middle East is the best way to go, then oil will be imported in tankers. If pipelines are the best route, then pipelines will be built. If nuclear energy is better, then nuclear energy will take over, and so on down the line (Yang, Xiyun).

Currently we see China floating its energy sources on the open market. China buys oil on the global market and has begun buying gas as well. China also has minor electrical importation agreements with several neighboring countries including Pakistan and India (Yang, Xiyun).

Another school of thought suggests that through increased military might, China can secure foreign energy sources in times of crisis. Creating a modern military to project force into distant countries is on the top of this group’s list (Downs, Erica).

China is purportedly in the process of developing its own aircraft carriers to counter the United State’s aircraft carriers and to extend the Chinese Air Force’s reach into the South and East China Seas. There are, however, several large hurtles that must be surmounted to achieve even one operational carrier battle group. These include a lack of technical expertise, a lack of strategically located navel bases capable of berthing a carrier, and a lack of money. India is currently in negotiations with Russia to refit a decommissioned Russian carrier to the tune of $2 billion. It appears China wants to follow the same model, having bought three carrier hulls from the former USSR and one from Australia (The World Aircraft Carrier List: China). It should also be noted that whatever China comes up with from the aged Russian and Australian carriers will be at least two generations behind what America, China’s largest perceived threat, has (Storey, Ian, You Jin).

A different group advocates building pipelines and buying foreign assets to assure a continued energy supply. Several recent acquisitions and new drilling and construction activity lend credit to this school of thought (The Dragon Tucks in).

Efforts are underway to build pipelines from oil and natural gas fields in Kazakhstan and Iran into China. However, such pipelines and the attached pumping stations are particularly vulnerable to aerial bombardment and supply disruptio
n. Recent acquisitions and investments within foreign countries indicate a strong desire for Chinese energy independence(Energy and Mining – China and Energy). China recently acquired large stakes in the Canadian energy sector (China Invests in Canadian Energy Sector). A Chinese company recently tried to purchase Unocal, an American petroleum and natural gas company with significant oil reserves. The American government ultimately disallowed the acquisition (The Dragon Tucks in).

Yet another group believes that China should become completely energy self-sufficient. This group advocates nuclear reactor construction, domestic coal consumption, and increased reliance on hydropower. This is a classic “fortress mentality.” Other factions point out that relying on coal and hydropower will only work for so long (Downs, Erica).

President Hu Jintao recently committed to spend $50 billion to increase nuclear power generation capacity from 8.7 GW to 40 GW by 2020. Westinghouse and GE are both pressing hard to sell reactors to china. At stake for the American companies are contracts for 30 new reactors (Reactors? We’ll Take Thirty, Please).

The Three Gorges Dam is scheduled to come online in 2009, pumping 18.2 GW of electricity into the Chinese national grid. It will be the largest single generation plant in the country and will be the largest single increase in electrical capacity in Chinese history (China: Environmental Impacts).

Finally, another school of thought believes China should move toward environmentally friendly and sustainable methods of energy production. There is an increased interest in wind, wave, and solar energy. This approach not only pleases environmentalists and xenophobists, but it also is amenable to the central government and the security and defense communities (Yang, Xiyun).

Up to 1.5 trillion yuan (US$184 billion) is scheduled to be invested in renewable energy sources by 2020 in an attempt to boost China’s renewable energy consumption to 15% of the country’s energy mix (Jing, Fu). That is more than triple the rate scheduled for investment in nuclear power generation facilities.

Businesses can earn a 50% tax break when investing in solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources (Jing, Fu). Additional tax breaks for using sustainable energy have been proposed within the central government.

Several large wind farms already exist in China. Many more are slated for development. An estimated 3226 GW of wind energy potential exists in the country primarily in the grasslands and deserts of the north, and the coastal areas and islands in the east and southeast. It is unclear how easy and economical these resources are to develop. The provinces with the largest wind energy potential are also the provinces with the least coal deposits (China New Energy).

A push is on to increase reliance on solar energy in residential housing. Not only is solar electrical generation being pushed but many “green building” designs are also finding their way to the forefront. Solar water heaters and cook stoves have found limited adoption in China with over 30 million units in service. Projections are for an increase to 100 million units in the near future. Already, over 1000 manufacturers are creating solar energy products for domestic consumption (Solar Energy to be Widely Used in Buildings).

Conclusion: Implications for Sustainability

Clearly, China’s reliance on coal, oil, and natural gas is unsustainable. Sooner or later, these fossil resources will run out not only in China but worldwide. There has been a subtle shift in the last few years toward a sustainable energy policy.

China continues to go down several different paths toward energy security. The debate has been slowly shifting in favor of the sustainability advocates, especially in light of recent world energy spikes (Yang, Xiyun). Despite continued expansion in non-renewable sectors, a realization of the necessity of sustainability for survival is slowly dawning on the central government. Methods, such as heavy taxes on automobiles, and tax breaks for renewable energy sources and sustainable businesses, are being implemented across China (Clark, Marco).

The only way that China can be assured of a secure energy supply is to move toward sustainable and renewable energy production. Purchasing energy on the free market, drilling in the East China Sea, pumping in crude from Iran, building large dams, burning coal, and shipping oil around the world will not address the problem of long-term energy stability and security. Only through a distributed renewable energy generation complex will these goals be achieved.

To have energy security, Chinese energy consumption will have to become domestically sustainable.
Bibliography

A Strangling Embrace. Ed. Ryan McGreal. August 22, 2005. Raise the Hammer. November 26, 2005 .

China Country Analysis Brief. Ed. https://www.eia.gov/emeu/cabs/china.html. August 2005. Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy. November 26, 2005 .

China’s Energy Outlook. Ed. Gordon Feller. 2005. EcoWorld. December 2, 2005 .

China: Environmental Issues. July 2003. Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy. December 2, 2005 .

“China Invests in Canadian Energy Sector.” Narr. Richard Reynolds. Day to Day. NPR, . September 27, 2005.

China New Energy. 2001. Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversation. December 2, 2005 .

CIA – The World Factbook. Ed. CIA. November 1, 2005. Central Intelligence Agency. November 26, 2005 .

Clark, Marco. Personal interview. December 1, 2005.

Downs, Erica. “The Chinese Energy Security Debate.” The China Quarterly Vol. 177. (May 2004): 21-41.

Energy and Mining – China and Energy. 2005. The World Bank. November 26, 2005 .

Faiola, Anthony. “Japan-China Oil Dispute Escalates.” Washington Post. October 22, 2005.

IEA Energy Statistics. 2005. International Energy Agency. December 2, 2005 .

Jing, Fu. “Renewable Energy Gets Huge Outlay.” China Daily. November 8, 2005.

Lie, Ma. “Official: Sabotage of Power Grid ‘Rampant’.” China Daily. June 15, 2005.

“Reactors? We’ll Take Thirty, Please.” Business Week. October 3, 2005.

Solar Energy to be Widely Used in Buildings. January 25, 2001. China.org.cn Culture & Science. December 2, 2005 .

Storey, Ian, You Ji. “China’s Aircraft Carrier Ambitions: Seeking Truth from Rumors.” Naval War College Review Vol. LVII. No. 1. (Winter 2004).

“The Dragon Tucks in.” The Economist. July 4, 2001.

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Yang, Xiyun. Personal interview. November 26, 2005.

October 23, 2005

CO2 Sarcasm

I received this assignment in my sustainable engineering class…

Go through the powerpoint slides in Global Warming Consequences and write a short essay on what you plan to do to deal with global warming (conserve, live simply, migrate, adapt, become political, develop a new social movement, ?????). Be creative.

I decided the best approach to dealing with such a horridly depressing topic was to satire it a bit. Let’s hope my professor approves!

The Sarcastic Approach to Dealing with Impending Doom

I don’t know what I’m going to do about the CO2 problem. I am not studying anything that directly pertains to the carbon cycle or to sequestering carbon or to reducing carbon emissions. I don’t plan on an engineering career dedicated to reducing the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. I’m not going to get rid of my car or stop flying on airplanes. I don’t plan on moving to Canada and living in a small hut to reduce my footprint.

If I’m still living in Oregon when the climate takes a turn for the warmer, I’ll probably buy an air conditioner and make sure it’s well chained down to my house so no one tries to make off with my suddenly highly sought after appliance. I’ll buy more pairs of shorts and Hawaiian t-shirts. Flip-flops and sandals will be the footwear of the day. Wide-brimmed hats will be the latest rage in fashion.

I’ll build a cistern under my house to collect rainwater from my roof. I’ll have a filtration system to pull out all the harmful compounds that come with the future rains courtesy of China. To combat the rolling blackouts due to a lack of water behind the dams of the Western Power Grid, I’ll install several banks of photovoltaic cells on my roof complete with large batteries to store energy for nighttime air conditioning use.

As petroleum resources get scarcer I’ll convert my car to run on bio-diesel and turn my attention to the unwanted grease so often dumped by fast food restaurants. I’ll have a couple of well-secured bio-reactors behind my house to produce much needed energy. I guess, in respect to fossil fuels, my carbon emissions will decrease a bit. This reduction in consumption, however, will be driven by market forces, not by my person feelings of guilt over killing the planet.

If I’m living outside of Oregon, I’ll most likely be living abroad in some far flung canton of the United States, such as Iraq or Afghanistan or Brittan. The America of the future will have many new colonies and protectorates. As I’ll be part of the ruling class, I’ll have an easy and idyllic life, when not oppressing the natives. I’ll have boys whose job is to fan me with palm fronds. As it gets hotter, I’ll have more boys and more palm fronds. Being one of the privileged elite will mean that I won’t have to worry about such things as conservation of scarce resources or my impact on the planet. Instead, I’ll be able to burn hydrocarbons like there is no tomorrow. I’ll go out on the weekends to clear-cut tropical forests and burn the wood for relaxation and escape from the dull monotony of administering the unenlightened indigenous inhabitants.

Before sea-levels rise, I’ll calculate exactly where I should expect the rise to stop. I’ll buy large swaths of property at that elevation and hold onto them until they’re beachfront properties. Then I’ll sell. For a lot of money. If there’s one thing to be learned from today’s disasters it’s to always watch for the profit angel. Hurricane victims, of which there will be many more in the coming years as larger and larger hurricanes form, will pay a pretty penny for the privilege of a bag of melting ice. Rich and unintelligent people with today’s ocean-front property will scramble to buy my very reasonably priced and conveniently dry beach-side property of tomorrow.

Before water becomes too scarce I’ll start buying up strategically placed pieces of property around the world that sit atop very large fossil water reservoirs. When things get dry, I’ll drill and start selling the water at a very affordable price. It won’t matter to me that within a generation all of the fossil water will be gone. The important thing is that I will have made a tidy profit. If people can’t afford the water, then they simply can sign over their first-born son to my business interests. They all will be well looked after working on water pipeline-laying projects around the world. After all, a dead worker is a useless worker. We won’t use such nasty terms as “slaves” in the future. Instead we’ll call them “volunteers.”

When the concentration of CO2 gets so high in the atmosphere as to cause grave danger to our very respiration, I’ll be sure to own a number of oxygen generation stations. For mere dollars a day, a family of four will be able to buy all of their oxygen needs from me. Meanwhile, my lumberjacks will continue to clear forest lands that otherwise could have provided free oxygen to the masses. One must always make sure that ones competition, natural or otherwise, is kept under control.

The farther and farther our planet spirals toward climatic disaster the better and better my economic bottom line will look. As areas of the world dry out and become sun-baked wastelands, my tan will increase exponentially until I’m the spitting image of a tanned Greek god. A new ruling class of “resource elite” will form which will subjugate the rest of the world under their iron grip. For a few liters of water or a couple of kilometers worth of energy, people will find themselves doing amazing and unimaginably barbaric things.

Global warming heralds the end of our civilized world. Global warming ushers in a new era of boundless greed and corruption. I only hope that I’ll be at the forefront of greed and corruption, otherwise my life will be pretty miserable.