Chapter 255: Technology Exchange

Facts have proven that the "City That Never Sleeps" plan for Madrid proposed by Kaluo has been very effective.

The news of Madrid as a "City That Never Sleeps" not only shocked many Europeans, but also shocked many European countries.

Not just Britain and France, but major powers including Germany, Austria, Russia, and Italy have all expressed concern, and the citizens of these countries have also demanded that their governments build their own "Cities That Never Sleeps" to demonstrate their nation's strength.

While Britain and France were still hesitating, Germany became the first country to take action. As a promoter of the Second Industrial Revolution, Germany's sense for the electric power industry was incomparable to other countries.

The only country that could be mentioned in the same breath as Germany regarding the importance of electricity might be the United States across the ocean. However, because the United States is separated from Europe by the Atlantic, news traveled slower there than in other European countries.

Other European countries could receive the news the day after Christmas, but the United States would not receive the relevant news reports until the third day at the earliest.

December 26, 1879, Berlin, German Empire.

At this time, the German government was holding a meeting, and the main topic of the meeting was the cost required to build Berlin into a "City That Never Sleeps."

Germany was also involved in electric power technology, and some German scientists had also developed things like generators and light bulbs, so theoretically, there was hope of building a "City That Never Sleeps."

Even if the effect was temporarily inferior to Spain's "City That Never Sleeps," at least a similar one had to be built so they could declare to the public that Germany remained a powerful and advanced country in the emerging field of electricity.

"Has the budget required to build a 'City That Never Sleeps' been calculated?" German Chancellor Bismarck looked at the Minister of Finance and asked.

The Minister of Finance looked solemn and gave an answer that caused Bismarck's expression to change instantly: "As it stands, if we install streetlights on all the main streets of Berlin, we must invest at least 60 million marks; if we build streetlights in the vast majority of large cities, we need an investment of at least 500 million marks."

Considering the different geographical environments of each city and the different local electricity demands, the funds we need to invest might be even more.

Overall, this is completely an unprofitable deal, at least for us at the moment. Even just for the Berlin streetlight system, it would require at least dozens of power stations working together.

The labor costs for these dozens of power stations alone would require at least several thousand people. The time to manufacture the generators alone might take several months; by the time all this is completed, it would be at least half a year later."

Bismarck rubbed his temples, feeling helpless about this terrible news. According to the Minister of Finance, building a "City That Never Sleeps" would be a huge expenditure and would take a long time to complete.

"Damn it, if the cost is so high, why was Spain able to build the first 'City That Never Sleeps' before all other countries?

Even if Madrid has a smaller population, it must have at least 500, 00 people! Berlin needs 60 million marks, so Madrid would need at least 30 million pesetas.

Would the Spaniards grit their teeth and bear an expenditure as high as 30 million pesetas just for the small amount of face that a 'City That Never Sleeps' brings?

This is simply unbelievable; this money is enough to build two of the most powerful ironclad warships—wouldn't it be better to use it for the navy?" Chancellor Bismarck said with some disbelief.

For European countries, if the treasury is wealthy, the first choice is definitely to develop industry or the navy.

The scale of the navy also measures whether a major power is strong or not; those countries with only strong armies are not given much importance in Europe, unless they are neighbors of these land-power giants.

No matter how strong an army is, it cannot bypass other countries to attack you, but a navy can. This has led European countries to often regard the navy as the most important military branch when measuring a nation's comprehensive strength, with the army coming second.

Chancellor Bismarck could not understand the Spaniards' actions at all. If building a "City That Never Sleeps" requires such large expenses, what exactly is Spain building it for?

"This is a very terrifying result. Perhaps in the electric power industry, the Spaniards have already reached the forefront of all countries. Only in this way can they reduce the cost of building power stations and using electricity, allowing Spain to recklessly build a 'City That Never Sleeps' to attract our attention," German Emperor Wilhelm I said at this time.

European countries are not fools; Spain being able to be the first to build a "City That Never Sleeps" also means that Spain must have reached the forefront of Europe in the electric power industry.

How to judge this is also simple. If they could also quickly build a "City That Never Sleeps," it would prove that Spain's achievements in the electric power industry were not outstanding.

But if a powerful nation like Germany could not quickly build a "City That Never Sleeps," it would prove that Spain's achievements in the electric power industry had already surpassed Germany's, and had even maintained a significant lead.

The German Minister of Foreign Affairs nodded and explained to Emperor Wilhelm I and Chancellor Bismarck: "According to information sent back by the ambassador to Spain, the Spaniards used unknown high-power power generation equipment. There are less than ten power stations around the entire Madrid area, yet the electricity produced supplies lighting for the entire Madrid city center."

It is said that the cost of electricity in Madrid has been reduced by more than half, and many factories are already considering installing light bulbs to provide lighting at night.

In the era of electricity, the Spaniards have indeed achieved many results. I think we can start cooperation with the Spaniards in this regard, using some of the industrial technologies we excel in to exchange for the Spaniards' electric power technology."

Chancellor Bismarck glanced at Wilhelm I, and seeing that Wilhelm I did not object, Bismarck nodded and issued his decision: "Let the diplomatic ambassador establish contact with the Spanish government and ask for the price of Spain's power generation equipment and light bulb technology."

"No matter how high the cost of a 'City That Never Sleeps' is, we must keep up. Electricity brings more than just lighting; if we can achieve good results in the electric power industry, perhaps Germany can have a brighter future."

At this time, Chancellor Bismarck still held great power. With his order, the German government became busy, all carrying out their own work.

Unlike the decisive German government, France, which had a deep hatred for Germany, was caught in a dilemma at this time.

As a major power directly bordering Spain, the news of the Madrid "City That Never Sleeps" reached France immediately.

Before the French government could react, the impatient Parisian citizens launched protests, demanding that the government build a "City That Never Sleeps" to show France's strength.

The protests by the Parisian public made the French government anxious, and important government officials did not even dare to appear in public.

Unable to find the government, the Parisian public turned their guns and surrounded the city hall; after all, the Paris City Hall was also the government, and condemning them was definitely not wrong.

Inside the Paris City Hall at this time, the official serving as the Mayor of Paris had a livid complexion. He tried to contact the government via telegraph, but the other side gave a response telling the Paris City Hall to handle it themselves.

Isn't this ridiculous? How is the Paris City Hall supposed to handle it? Are they supposed to build streetlights in the streets and alleys of Paris according to the public's wishes?

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is a huge expenditure. For the Paris City Hall, even if their finances are relatively wealthy, they absolutely cannot bear such a huge expense.

It must be known that the political systems of European countries are relatively clear. The finances of the Paris City Hall are relatively wealthy, but they are also responsible for the urban construction and infrastructure maintenance of all of Paris, as well as the salaries of all officials in the Paris City Hall.

As the largest and most prosperous city in France, Paris also has the highest fiscal revenue of all French cities. This has led to Paris finding it difficult to obtain fiscal appropriations from the government, and various expenditures generally rely on the fiscal revenue withheld by the city hall to tide over difficulties.

No matter how rich the Paris City Hall is, it is impossible for them to bear the cost of building streetlights alone. Previously, due to the Franco-Prussian War, the urban areas of Paris suffered varying degrees of damage.

Rebuilding the urban area alone left the Paris City Hall in a large amount of debt, and it took several years to pay off this debt.

If they had to rely solely on the Paris City Hall to build streetlights, I am afraid that by the time the streetlights were built, the citizens of Paris would have changed batch after batch.

While expressing his dissatisfaction and resentment toward the government, the Mayor of Paris ordered officials to lock the gates of the city hall to prevent the dissatisfied public from rushing directly into the city hall.

The combat power of the Parisian citizens is no joke. If the citizens were allowed to rush into the city hall, no one could guarantee what would happen.

The Mayor of Paris did not want such a protest to turn into an armed conflict and eventually evolve into a bloody revolution.

According to past experience, whether the revolution succeeds or not is not important; what is important is that once a revolution breaks out, the first to bleed will be the officials of the Paris City Hall.

The different attitudes shown by various governments toward the Madrid "City That Never Sleeps" can actually reflect their understanding of the electric power industry.

There is a reason why Germany could become one of the fastest-developing countries in the Second Industrial Revolution; the entire country's sensitivity to the electric power industry is quite high, and they had long seen the changes that the electric power industry would bring to industrial technology, and they attached great importance to such technology.

As for Britain and France, it cannot be said that they do not attach importance to it. The problem is that building a "City That Never Sleeps" requires a large amount of capital investment, and the large-scale application of electricity will also affect the existing industrial system.

Kaluo did not pay too much attention to what happened in other countries; after all, after the successful debut of the "City That Never Sleeps," Spain was also quite busy.

The success of the "City That Never Sleeps" also means that electricity has officially entered the commercial era, and the public can spend money to experience this brand-new energy source.

Of course, the cost of electricity at this time is still relatively high. Even though the cost of power generation has been reduced after the birth of high-power generators, the cost of power generation in Madrid is still as high as about 1. pesetas per kilowatt-hour.

Power plants need a certain amount of profit to continue operating, and there is also a large loss during the transmission of electricity.

This has led to the electricity fee in Madrid being as high as 2. pesetas per kilowatt-hour, and ordinary people face relatively high costs when using electric lights for lighting.

According to the power of the light bulbs, a 15-watt light bulb consumes 0. 15 kilowatt-hours of electricity per hour, and a 35-watt light bulb consumes 0. 35 kilowatt-hours of electricity per hour.

Assuming a household needs to install 4 small light bulbs, and the average lighting time for each bulb is 1 hour per night, the electricity cost for each household is already as high as 0. 5 pesetas per day, which is 54. 5 pesetas per year.

And Spain's per capita annual income is only 139. 1 pesetas, so the annual electricity bill for each household is almost 40% of the per capita annual income.

To give an easier-to-understand example, suppose someone's monthly income in later generations is 5, 00 yuan, and the annual income is 60, 00 yuan. According to the electricity cost in Spain at this time, the electricity bill this person needs to pay every year is close to 24, 00 yuan, which is absolutely quite exaggerated.

Although this electricity bill is the electricity cost for the entire family, for any civilian family, this is a relatively large expenditure.

What's more, the time people use electric lights daily is definitely far more than 1 hour. As the time of electricity usage increases, the cost of electricity will also continue to increase.

According to Spain's current per capita income, less than one-tenth of the entire population of Spain can afford electricity, and these people are basically nobles, capitalists, and some middle-class people with higher incomes.

The good news is that although only one-tenth of the population can afford electricity in Spain, a considerable part of this one-tenth lives in Spain's capital, Madrid.

This is also the reason why Kaluo planned to build a "City That Never Sleeps" in Madrid, because these nobles do not feel any heartache when spending money; if they have electricity, they really use it.

After the "City That Never Sleeps" became big news across Europe, the Spanish nobles also dreamed of installing a large number of streetlights and electric lights in their castles and manors.

These light bulbs can not only provide lighting but also show the strength of the castle or manor owner to the outside world.

Just on the second day of Christmas, dozens of nobles contacted Gramme's electric power company through various ways, requesting the electric power company to lay circuits for their castles and manors and install corresponding streetlights and electric bulbs.

It was only because Kaluo established the electric power company for the commercial use of electricity that these nobles were able to find out about the existence of the electric power laboratory.

Regarding the requests of these nobles, after asking Kaluo for instructions and obtaining his consent, Gramme nodded and agreed to cooperate with them.

Since the establishment of the electric power laboratory, it had not provided Kaluo with any income. Although scientific research cannot be stingy with investment, for Gramme, he still wanted to prove his value by obtaining income.

Although only dozens of nobles wanted to lay circuits and build streetlights in their manors and castles, these nobles were basically high-ranking nobles of the rank of Duke or above.

These high-ranking nobles all have one thing in common: they have countless castles and manors, and often it is not just one castle or manor that needs to have circuits laid.

The electricity consumption of these high-ranking nobles is also much higher than that of ordinary civilians; the streetlights in their castles and manors are sometimes even kept on all night, which is a considerable income for the electric power company.

What Kaluo did not expect was that the Spanish nobles were not the big customers of the electric power company; the German government was the real big customer.

No matter how rich the nobles are, their goal is only dozens or hundreds of streetlights plus a small power station specifically to provide electricity for the streetlights.

But the German government's requirements are different. The German government directly requested ten large power stations plus thousands of streetlights; they clearly also wanted to imitate Spain and build a "City That Never Sleeps," which also means that the German government has made up its mind to invest a lot of capital.

Of course, the German government did not intend to invest too much capital in streetlights and electricity. The German diplomatic ambassador made a request to the Spanish government, which was to exchange Spain's electric power technology for industrial technology that Spain did not have.

Among these industrial technologies are Germany's latest steelmaking technology, the most advanced artillery technology, and some technologies related to chemical engineering and medicine.

Kaluo was still very interested in these technologies and was willing to exchange Spain's existing electric power technology for these technologies.

The reason for being willing to exchange, besides the fact that the industrial technologies provided by Germany were indeed attractive, was that the electric power technology currently mastered by Spain was about to be upgraded, and there was no need to hold on to these technologies.

For example, Spain's existing light bulb technology is still the earliest carbon filament light bulb. Gramme's electric power laboratory has already begun to study light bulbs made of other materials, and it is currently expected that there will be new finished products soon.

Compared with carbon filament light bulbs, the new finished products will not only have higher brightness but also a longer service life. Precisely because of this, Kaluo was willing to hand over the existing light bulb technology to Germany; anyway, this is a product that will be eliminated sooner or later.

The same is true for generators. Unlike Gramme's ring armature generator, the two-phase generator developed by Tesla has greater potential, and the current power generation capacity is only at the most initial level.

If everything Tesla said in his last report to Kaluo is true, then Spain is about to welcome high-power generators with a power generation capacity of over 50kw, so naturally, they would not look down upon the pseudo-large generators with a current power generation capacity of only 26. kw.

The update and iteration of technology is just that fast. After the transition from the ring armature generator to the two-phase generator, a big explosion in power generation capacity in a short period of time is inevitable.

The increase in power generation capacity also represents one thing, which is that higher-power light bulbs and electric motors have a use.

The reason why the electric power industry was only a hypothesis was that the power of previous generators was too low to drive higher-power electric motors at all.

This also led to the fact that if factory owners used electricity as an energy source, the cost of electricity alone would be enough to bankrupt the factory.

But in the case of having high-power generators, this situation will be greatly improved. By the time Spain has generators with a power generation capacity of over 50kw, Spain's power generation cost will reach below 1 peseta, and the public's electricity cost can also be controlled at about 1. pesetas.

Under such circumstances, more families and factories will be able to afford electricity, and only then will there truly be hope for the arrival of the electric power industry and the electric age.

Coupled with the industrial technology and related data exchanged between Germany and Spain, Spain will definitely be able to become a promoter of the Second Industrial Revolution, and its industry and economy will achieve a relatively large development.

5000-word two-in-one chapter, asking for monthly tickets!

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(End of this chapter)