The energy innovations of this century reflect the industrial revolution of the early 1900s
The speed of the Candela Seven hydrofoil across Lake Maggiore. According to the manufacturer, the speedboat is powered by an electric engine and can travel for 2 1/2 hours at a speed of 20 knots.The beautiful village of Baddeck, Nova Scotia, the summer resort of the late world-famous inventor Alexander Graham Bell, is home to two historic transportation firsts when JAD McCurdy was in February 1909 Flying a Silver Dart during the first successful flight in the British Empire on the 23rd, 10 years later, FW "Casey" Baldwin drove a hydrofoil, affectionately known as "Cigar", at a record-breaking speed of 70 miles per hour, this extraordinary The world record has been maintained for many years. The photo above shows the historic Silver Dart in flight, the upper left corner, and the replica on display at Baddeck, the upper right corner; while the record-breaking hydrofoil was shown in the lower left corner during the test, and the lower right corner shows the replica. Currently Located in the Alexander Graham Bell National Historical Park in Baddeck Village.
In this photo taken on Tuesday, September 17, 2019, a hydrofoil ship SeaBubble sails in Paris. Paris is testing a new way of traveling-an environmentally friendly foamy taxi that drives fast along the water and can carry passengers on the Seine. (AP Photo/Françoisson)
On Tuesday, October 4, 2016, Ken Kimball of Wappingers Falls, New York, loosened his hydrofoil on an afternoon of kitesurfing at Short Beach in Stratford, Connecticut. Kimball said that the hydrofoil is very suitable for use in the breeze because it produces less friction in contact with water compared to ordinary wooden boards.
Dalton Bergan sailed his "moth" hydrofoil near the Shilshole Bay Pier in Seattle on Wednesday, November 26, 2008. (Photo/Post-Seattle Intelligence Officer/Joshua Trujillo)
Italian engineer and inventor Enrico Forlanini built the first hydrofoil 115 years ago to cross Lake Maggiore at an astonishing speed of 40 miles per hour.
Powering his boat is a 60-horsepower steam engine, which spins propellers mounted on the front and rear of the cockpit. After the Wright brothers flew on the Kitty Hawk for three years, he was launched.
The beginning of the 20th century witnessed one of the most profound technological revolutions in human history. Facts have proved that the situation at the beginning of the 21st century is very similar, and energy plays a decisive role.
In 1898, the United States used cavalry and artillery to fight Spain, but the infantry used continuous-fire rifles for the first time. By 1917, oil-fueled tanks were rolling in all over France, fighter jets were flying overhead, and they all carried machine guns.
More than a century later, the Swedish shipbuilder Candela Speedboat is offering a test drive of its new hydrofoil made of carbon fiber and balanced by a computer. The electric motor can keep the speedboat at 20 knots for 2 1/2 hours.
The transition from steam to electric hydrofoil is not stable and there is no guarantee. Biologists will tell you that evolution is neither slow nor unstable. Changes are intermittent, usually caused by sudden environmental changes. Technological change follows a similar tortuous path.
For example, Forlanini did not think of hydrofoil boats. In 1869, the British granted a patent to a Parisian named Emmanuel Denis Farcot. However, the Italian applied new technology to Farcot's principles and commercialized his research in the same way that today's best businessmen have done.
But more importantly, Forlanini's hydrofoil solves a social challenge: how to traverse lakes, rivers or oceans quickly and efficiently. He has an important potential market, and today, there are thousands of hydrofoils carrying passengers every day.
The most important innovations of this century involve energy, not only to get from one place to another, but to make our shelters comfortable, to communicate over long distances, and, as evidenced by the recent blackout in Texas, Meet the necessities of life.
The challenge we face is how to provide these things to everyone on the planet without making the climate uninhabitable.
When I think about the challenge, I think about how we draft a combat plan in the Army. The first step is to determine the desired final state. Do you want to occupy an enemy's position, destroy a radical base, or take over an entire country? One requires several missiles, and the other requires several infantry divisions.
I raised this question when discussing climate change with Maynard Holt, CEO of the energy investment bank Tudor, Pickering & Holt, on his company's podcast. We all want to find a way to reject partisan speech and start making progress.
Recent commentators asked me to unreservedly support the oil and gas industry in Texas. They insist that our economy depends on energy jobs, or they believe that cheap fossil fuels are necessary for the economic development of emerging countries. Holt usefully asked us to spend more time on cost-benefit analysis.
Let's start with the ideal final state of energy policy. Most people will agree that we need affordable and reliable energy to help humankind escape poverty and stabilize the climate. This is what drives my analysis.
There is no doubt that it may take centuries to achieve this goal, but let us be clear: if we do not stabilize the climate first, we will not have centuries to meet our challenges. The pace of climate change is faster than most people expected, and we have not taken enough measures to slow it down.
The United States has done a good job in switching from coal to natural gas. Without federal supervision, the power industry has also done amazing things. However, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the increase in natural gas prices this year means that U.S. coal usage will increase in 2021 and 2022.
Although the purchase of electric vehicles has increased, transportation fuels have become the largest carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, emissions have declined, but traffic emissions are expected to be higher than 2019 levels next year.
Most studies tell us that meeting the Paris climate agreement will not prevent the planet from warming by 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level.
Outside the United States, things are not much better. As the world's largest emitter, China has set emission reduction targets, but President Xi Jinping has not released a realistic game plan.
The oil and gas industry is full of geniuses. If we focus on the ideal end state instead of worrying about sunk costs and stranded assets, the faster we will fly over the water in a ship we never imagined.
Chris Tomlinson has written business, energy and economic reviews for the Houston Chronicle since 2014. Before joining The Chronicle, he worked for the Associated Press for 20 years, covering politics, conflicts and economics from more than 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Africa. Europe. He is also the author of the "New York Times" bestseller Tomlinson Hill and produced the award-winning documentary of the same name. Both study the history and consequences of race, politics, and economy in Texas.
