Holy Roman Empire - Chapter 487

Chapter 487: Chapter 60: Energy Regulation (Extra Chapter for Monthly Votes)
 

The electric revolution was not just about lighting; humble appliances with low technical content also began to emerge.

For instance, the electric fan was one of these unexpected products, invented by a technician.

The initial reason was for cooling down machinery. He found mechanical fans inconvenient and aimed to create a fan that did not require manual operation.

With a bright idea, he attached a metal blade to an electric motor, and once powered, the blades spun rapidly—thus, the earliest electric fan was born.

Franz initially thought another great scientist had emerged, but after investigation, it turned out to be an ordinary technician. Apart from accidentally inventing the electric fan, he possessed no talent for scientific research.

The reality once again proved that technological inventions are filled with coincidences. There were many similar cases, with numerous practical technologies invented by ordinary people.

This reinforced Franz’s determination to increase the focus on hands-on skills in education. Therefore, starting from 1871, Austrian students had one more practical lesson.

Like a joke from the future: A true top student is someone who can build a nuclear reactor in their own garage.

Such talent is precisely what Austria needed. Advancing to the forefront of the techno-scientific revolution, Austria no longer had any models to copy; the former imitation empire had to engage in independent innovation.

In this regard, Franz seldom interfered. For a country to truly become powerful, it must possess the ability to develop independently forward, not be led by its emperor.

Though the accomplishments of a former life could serve as shortcuts, for a nation, this was only supplementary. Once it became a dependency, it turned into a disaster.

Franz usually just outlined the requirements, and how to achieve them was a matter for the scientists. Success was great, and failure was not a cause for concern; scientific research was never smooth sailing—it was impossible without going through trials and tribulations.

Of course, this was also related to Franz’s attributes as an academic underachiever in his past life. As an ordinary person, one simply enjoys the conveniences brought by technology, without caring about how these tech products are made.

Relying on the little knowledge seen online is one thing, but using it could be counterproductive if one actually tried to apply it.

The economic conference continued, and at this moment, everyone was discussing how to promote the widespread adoption of electric power technology. There were two main points:

The first was to offer tax reductions to businesses in the electric power industry, thus lowering the operational costs of electric companies.

The second was to reduce the prices of raw materials, or more specifically, copper and rubber, thereby decreasing the costs involved in the proliferation of electric power.

The methods were blunt, without much technical content. Any new technology faced cost as the initial problem in its promotion.

Only when costs were within a controllable range could there be economic value; only after acquiring economic value could it be widely promoted in the market.

Electricity had existed for many years, so why only promote it now? It was because high-powered generators had been invented, reducing the cost of generating power to within what the market could bear.

Now, a kilowatt-hour only required approximately 500 grams of coal, and if it was high-calorie coal, the consumption would be even less—the costs had become acceptable to the market.

Watching the endless debates, Franz also could not help wanting to speak out. However, he still refrained, and during the intermission, he summoned the Prime Minister for a private meeting.

Austria was not lacking in coal; in terms of reserves, it only followed the Russian Empire on the European Continent—such was the advantage of extensive territory. However, the quality of this coal was another matter.

“Prime Minister, I’ve suddenly realized an issue. Most of the coal mines in the country contain lignite, which is suitable for heating or power generation, but not for steelmaking.

Now the domestic demand for steel is growing by the day, and in the future, the need for bituminous coal will also surge. For the sake of our long-term development, we must now consider categorizing industrial coal by type.”

(Note: Only a small amount of natural coke exists, which can be directly used for steelmaking. Most coking coal is processed from bituminous coal.)

After some thought, Prime Minister Felix shook his head and said, “Your Majesty, isn’t that unnecessary? Our domestic coal reserves are quite abundant. With the current rate of consumption, there is enough to last for five hundred years.

Although the reserves of bituminous coal for steelmaking are not too high, there’s still enough to go around. Even if the demand for steel increased tenfold, these coal reserves would be sufficient for several hundred years. It’s too early to worry about these matters now.

Enforcing the categorization of coal for industrial use would also bring about many issues. Many regions that produce bituminous coal would then have to purchase lignite at a high price from outside, increasing industrial production costs and hindering economic development.”

This was a real problem; if they forced the categorization of coal, they would have to face this economic dilemma.

In this era, the demand for coal resources was not too high yet, and energy issues had not entered the public’s view.

Moreover, despite steel being often mentioned together with iron, the coal used in “steelmaking” and “ironmaking” were different.

At present, Austria produced over six million tons of iron and steel per year, but in fact, over six million tons of this figure were iron, with only the last few hundred thousand tons being steel.

With such a low steel output, the demand for coking coal was naturally low. Even if it increased tenfold, the actual steel output would only be a few million tons, and this small amount of steel would not use up much coal.

Franz started to hesitate as the actual situation seemed to have exceeded his expectations; Austria’s reserves of bituminous coal were not very high, but the industrial demand was even smaller.

After some reflection, Franz still decided to continue promoting the classification of coal for industrial use, though his approach changed slightly, losing its former radical edge.

This was not just wishful thinking, but a decision made by Franz after careful consideration. He believed that Austria’s future demand for steel would climb rapidly, possibly breaking the ten million ton threshold by the end of the century.

Accordingly, the demand for coking coal would need to increase. If, by that time, they had successfully acquired the Rhineland region and secured the coal resources of the Ruhr District, they would naturally not lack coal.

However, there were always contingencies, and if an unforeseen event occurred and Austria failed to obtain the coal mines of the Ruhr District in the short term, would the domestic production of bituminous coal meet the demand?

This was a question no one could answer. Therefore, Franz naturally had to plan ahead. Even if it turned out to be unnecessary, it was better to be prepared than to find, when the need arose, that there was an insufficient supply of high-quality coking coal.

After an enormous effort, Franz barely managed to persuade Prime Minister Felix. Perhaps Felix now thought it was all much ado about nothing and only accepted it out of respect for the Emperor’s face.

This was all irrelevant to Franz, who only focused on the outcome. As long as the goal was achieved, the twists and turns of the process were of no consequence.

Nobody knew the content of their conversation, naturally. Because of this incident, the mid-meeting break was also extended.

With both the Emperor and the Prime Minister absent, the meeting naturally could not proceed. This was similar to the norm for meetings; they had to wait for key leaders to be present to begin.

The staff were very observant, offering coffee, pastries, and today’s fresh newspapers to everyone during the break.

Perhaps feeling it was not good to keep so many people waiting, about twenty minutes later, the two men entered the meeting room, and the meeting resumed.

Toward the end of the meeting, Prime Minister Felix said with a glum face,

“Gentlemen, do not forget that electricity generation requires coal, and although domestic coal production is not small, we must also prioritize steel production.

The domestic demand for steel is about to surge. Of the domestic coal production, over eighty percent is lignite, which is not suitable for steelmaking. The production of coking coal, which is suitable, is less than twenty percent, and among that, premium coal amounts to less than five percent.

It is now necessary to enact an energy law to legally ensure the safety of coal for steelmaking. Of course, this cannot be done by administrative coercion; the main thing is to regulate market supply through economic means.

In a nutshell, it means letting the coal that is best suited for steelmaking be used exclusively for that purpose so that the best quality steel can be produced, and letting the rest of the ordinary coal enter the market.”

It was apparent that Prime Minister Felix was not so eager. Of course, this was limited to Franz’s view; different people saw different answers. Many officials directly interpreted it as “concern” because they thought he had this expression since he was worried about this issue.

This statement was somewhat far-fetched, but it was more acceptable than Franz’s interpretation. Only the highest quality coal can produce the highest quality steel; this is common knowledge.

The regulation through economic means was very simple and crude, and the Vienna Government had similar successful experiences, such as taxing premium coal.

If this premium coal went into steel mills for steelmaking, then a tax rebate would be given; if it went into other sectors, naturally there would be no rebate.

The benefit of doing this was evident: it raised the price of premium coal. With higher prices, market competitiveness decreased, and at least the power plants were not going to buy this high-grade coal.

Under the stimulus of profit, the capitalists would regulate the market themselves. The only issue was monitoring, to not let them evade taxes.

By comparison, these were minor issues. Having a law and not having a law are two different concepts; even if tax evasion happened on a small scale in secret, it was still minor.

Secrecy can only be maintained if only a few are involved. If the scale became larger, it would be much harder to escape the scrutiny of tax authorities.

Besides, even if the sellers of coal were willing to take the risk, the buyers might not be so willing.

Even with tax evasion, the price of high-quality coal could not be lower than ordinary combustion coal; for many people, the difference was not significant, but the risks involved were enormous.

It wasn’t a big deal if you weren’t caught, but once you were caught, the consequences were serious. Being fined into bankruptcy was common, and one might even end up in jail for reflection.

The proposal from Prime Minister Felix met with significant opposition, but it was still barely passed in the meeting. Franz’s maneuvering was nearly overt in suggesting that the Emperor supported the proposal.

Raising this issue at the economic meeting was, in fact, a way to share the pressure. According to convention, all high-level meeting content in Austria was kept confidential.

The officials attending the meeting could not possibly announce to the outside world: I oppose X law. Now that it has become law, it’s not for an official to oppose, but to comply with.

The outside world was unaware of the extent of the opposition within the government, which could lead to miscalculations. The resentment of those whose interests were hurt would be borne by everyone together.

Since so many officials were involved, none dared to act disruptively. This policy had no impact on the ordinary people, who have always been loyal users of cheap coal.

Other than coal barons, almost no one would be affected. After all, the government was only regulating the best quality coking coal, and not affecting the interests of others.

If there was a loss, it was Franz who suffered the greatest loss. Unbeknownst to many, he had become Austria’s largest coal supplier.

This was the benefit of buying in the past when there was no railway through the deep mountains and forests, and the mines there were worthless.

But with the completion of the Great Railway Plan, now every city in Austria had a railway, and the original transportation problems were no longer an issue.

With the transportation issue solved and the minerals being transported out, many mines buried in the forests also gained economic value, and thus a mining tycoon was born.

Such a loss was of no concern to Franz, especially since the policy also had beneficiaries – the steel companies. It was merely a matter of transferring from the left hand to the right hand.

The loss from the coal mines was made up from the gains on the steel enterprises, and in secret, he also invested in heavy industry.

This is the terrifying aspect of a consortium, having a complete industrial chain and risk resistance far exceeding ordinary enterprises.

Today, a large Royal Consortium has already taken root in Austria. If all its hidden assets were exposed, it would be enough to make all the consortia in the world blush with shame.

Obviously, these could not be exposed; the deeper the reserve cards were hidden, the better. Although the Royal Consortium’s existence seemed nebulous, in reality, it had long been divided into several parts or, in other words, several consortia.

Franz was only remotely controlling these separated consortia, which also consisted of a whole bunch of allies, forming a community of interests.

On the surface, some of these consortia were even in opposition to one another, often engaging in endless conflicts over interests. To say they were one and the same, even with evidence laid out in front, probably only a few would believe it.

This was just the beginning; with the rise of new industries, these consortia would continue to grow like a snowball, increasing Franz’s control over the nation.