Chapter 300: Prelude to the Storm
It was only since Tuvalu declared its foundry that the world began to change dramatically. First of all, China and Tuvalu have signed a strategic treaty of friendship and mutual trust. Needless to say, everyone understands what is going on.
China is a country that has traditionally had good relations with mutants. There are some mutants in the central leadership, and their attitude towards Tuvalu is somewhat like that of the Jews towards Israel. Of course, there's a little bit of a difference.
At least they don't see Tuvalu as their homeland, and there is a difference between Jewish feelings about Israel. At most, there are great points for affection and sympathy.
But with China's endorsement, and Russia's silence on the matter (Russia is somewhat constrained by the technology of controlled fusion).
Add to that the force Tuvalu showed when it took out the Hydra in the Atlantic. The new president, Katie, made it clear that she was holding an olive branch in one hand and a shotgun in the other. She wants peace, not war. Of course, she is not afraid of war.
Because of such a humble and arrogant statement, the international community has hesitated to the incident of Tuvalu's statehood, and did not respond immediately.
In particular, the timing of Tuvalu's public announcement coincides with the month of April. And this April, there will be a big event. That is, Dr. Reed of the moon will return to Earth with almost two tons of helium-3 purified ore. Dr. Reed had already expressed in Earth communications that the moon was on track.
Although it sounds very little, just over two tons of helium-3 ore are mined in a year. But look at the problem from another angle. Tony Stark has provided Dr. Reed and the others with very advanced tools and a variety of intelligent machines, allowing the four of them to complete the workload of an entire engineering team.
But after all, the lunar operation is not comparable to the earth, and it takes a year to build a basic camp and a basic mine. There is also a preliminary refining plant, and although all this is fully automated, there are only four people on the moon after all.
In addition, the four doctors also have their own scientific research projects. He promised Tony to come to the moon to establish an advance base because Tony promised to provide him with a large amount of research funds and to set up a physics laboratory on the moon.
Therefore, Dr. Li's main energy is still spent on research. The foundation mine he built was really just the foundation. But the camp has already been built, and the next step is that the moon can accommodate almost a hundred people.
The first year of construction was just laying the groundwork, and the second year was when the expansion really began. And it is also necessary to see another point, that is, the energy contained in the isotope of helium-3 is higher than any known energy source on the earth, and it is clean and environmentally friendly, absolutely pollution-free.
Based on the Earth's current energy consumption standards, 100 tons of helium-3 energy supply would meet the current energy demand.
Of course, 100 tons is just the current number. In fact, when human beings can really exploit helium-3 energy on a large scale, human demand for energy will inevitably increase explosively. Maybe there will still be so many people in the human race, but the demand for energy consumption will increase threefold or even fivefold.
According to the estimation of Dr. Tony and Banner, the industrial transformation brought about by the new helium-3 energy will lead to a revolution in traditional industries. In particular, many things that don't seem to be worth using energy can be done.
Because when helium-3 can be mined on a large scale, then the price of energy will be further reduced. Reduced energy means that more energy can be put into farming, livestock farming, and various mining and mechanical engineering.
Replace other costs with energy consumption, such as the manufacturing industry setting stricter environmental standards. The reason why many industries are not environmentally friendly is because it is not cost-effective to invest too much energy to do it. Therefore, energy costs can only be converted into environmental costs. For example, sewage treatment, such as air treatment, and so on.
In fact, Stark Group and Osborne Group were the first companies to think about these aspects, and more advanced environmental protection equipment has begun to be deployed around the world. The idea of an eco-planet has begun to take shape, and we need to be more advanced, but also more natural.
"According to incremental estimates, 100 tons of helium-3 is only enough to replace the current annual energy consumption of the planet. But we knew that this scale was not enough and that it would definitely need to be expanded in the future. I expect the biggest global energy shock to be rebuked by helium-3 mining this year, and it's the final moment of transformation!" said Tony at a rare meeting of the company's directors.
"A hundred tons is certainly not enough, and in the next ten years I predict that human civilization will enter an explosive age. Bringing the standard of living of the Nordic countries to the people of the world is no longer an empty phrase, we have the basis to achieve it. But we need more energy, and we need at least 1,000 or even 3,000 tons of helium-3 in the next 10 years!
Tony Stark is convincing the board of directors to make more appropriations for new energy, and he's already made up his mind. It is necessary to devote all the energy of the Stark Group to new energy.
In fact, it is not only Tony and the United States who are doing this with all their might, new energy is related to the future of the country, and this matter needs to race against time. One step slower is one step at a slow pace.
For example, China has relocated a city of hundreds of thousands of people and expropriated all the land here. And hundreds of thousands of civil infrastructure workers have been invested to work on the construction site. There are also millions of people in the country from top to bottom, from south to north, who are producing various supporting facilities.
As well as the use of 10% of the country's steel and cement, as well as various resources. They're building a giant controllable fusion power station. If the power station, called Suiren No. 1, is fully operational, it will be able to supply almost 70 or 80 percent of China's surplus electricity.
The first phase of the project is in a hurry, with four shifts on the construction site, and people and machines are resting. Because the construction of the first phase is getting closer and closer. The first phase of the works must be completed by April. There is no requirement for power generation, but it is required to be able to turn it.
This is not a national face-saving project, but a competition that cannot be seen. The first phase of helium-3 was only 1.5 tons. According to the P5 division at that time, the amount of helium-3 that each country could obtain was limited. So it's always good to be one step ahead and one step faster. Otherwise, you'll have to wait a whole year for the second batch of helium-3 to be shipped back to Earth.
Britain, France, and Germany worked together to build their Ark reactor, with the U.S. government providing technical support from Tony. The core content is confidential, and the maintenance and day-to-day operations after the construction is completed also need to be done by Stark Group personnel. It's like those core weapons that were supplied to NATO countries from the former Stark Group.
It feels a little bit restricted, but it's better than nothing. Britain, France and Germany pinched their noses and recognized it. At least they are in a better position than Russia. Russia's technology comes from China, and China is even more dead. With the exception of infrastructure projects, Russia is not allowed to manufacture almost all core components. Looking at the treatment of the woolly bear family, Britain, France and Germany feel that they are still relatively lucky.
In addition to the Ark spacecraft launched by Tony Stark at that time, Doom in Latville also launched a ship. However, Doom never reported their situation to the international community. And the place where the Latvian spacecraft landed was thousands of kilometers away from Dr. Reed. Nor are they likely to look at each other's situation.
With the exception of the countries of the Commonwealth of Eastern Europe, which Latvia had formed, no other country could expect Doom to separate some helium-3.
And the revolution around the new helium-3 energy source has already begun to emerge. It seems that overnight, there has been a blowout trend of new energy vehicles. Major international car manufacturers have begun to slowly relax the research and development of the next generation of gasoline and diesel vehicles, and put all their energy into electric vehicles.
Tesla, which was originally a leader in the electric vehicle market, suddenly suffered a huge shock. When Toyota, Honda, General Motors, BMW, Mercedes and other big manufacturers put all their efforts on the electric vehicle market, their energy and technical reserves are quite amazing.
Sometimes it's not that they won't do it, it's just that they don't want to do it. After all, the market determines capital, and capital determines the direction of technology.
Although there may be some losses in the short term, these century-old manufacturers have a farther perspective. They are competing for the market in ten years, and then it will be the real showdown.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg of how the world is changing. The new energy-driven super high-speed rail plan has begun to take shape. The short-distance train of the world's first super high-speed railway has already begun to open to traffic.
The railway from Dom, the capital of Latvia, to Durmu, one of Latvia's most scenic tourist destinations, has been opened. Although it is only a short 100 kilometers, although this is more of an experimental nature, although the speed has been repeatedly reduced to ensure the safety of the first operation.
But when the train only took 10 minutes to cover a distance of 100 kilometers in extremely comfortable conditions, this result still stunned people all over the world.
Someone already smells it, a smell of change. The richest man in China named Jack Ma was the first to realize this. Because his business platform supports the world's largest and largest number of logistics practitioners. New ways of getting goods are already emerging, and perhaps their competitors' logistical methods of building warehouses all over China will fail.
And more manufacturing companies are seeing new opportunities from it. The integration of the Eurasian continent seems to have taken shape, can we grasp some benefits in this? Or even promote it? Some people are waiting and watching, but others have already jumped off the field and started the wrestling first.
The world is changing, the time is coincidental, and everyone is busy. So the establishment and publication of Tuvalu at this point in time is just the right time for everyone to spend all their experiences on them.
For many people, the world is already in chaos. The pace of change is overwhelming, and in just a few years, it seems as if the earth is about to be turned upside down. Mutants starting a country of their own? well, it's big news, it's just big news. If you have time to pay attention to this, you might as well think about how to find your new position in this turbulent era!
Is the establishment of Tuvalu really just news, and not something more profound?
Before anyone had even noticed, a storm of change was already brewing.