Lhe first shamans appeared in history to beg for rain. In secular China it is now preferred to send drones to disperse silver iodide particles in the clouds of Sichuan. This mountainous region in the west of the country, as populated as Germany, experienced the driest summer in its modern history. The level of its major river and the largest in China, the Yangzi Jiang, has never been so low. The consequences have been devastating since the region is 80% dependent on dams for its electricity. The giant factories that dot its territory and that of the neighboring megalopolis of Chongqing have been forced to stop their activities. The first drops finally fell at the end of last week, leading the authorities to lift their restrictions on Monday August 29.
In fact, the entire northern hemisphere experienced this summer on a dry slope. He showed us the speed of global warming and our fragility. Hydroelectricity, the most reliable of renewable energies and the only one that can be stored easily, suddenly appeared as unpredictable as the course of the clouds. In Europe, the country most dependent on this energy, Norway, traditionally a major exporter, fell out with its Swedish and Finnish neighbors for having restricted its electricity sales abroad.
Invest massively
The grim scenario of climate catastrophe, and its aftermath of droughts and floods, now directly affects our economy and our daily lives. The short and long term answers are known, even if they sometimes continue to fuel controversy. The first is the need for a diversified energy mix. EDF’s industrial problems on its power plants confirm that betting everything on a single technology, whether gas, hydroelectricity or nuclear, is a factor of fragility.
The second answer is that of the need to invest massively and quickly in new infrastructures. China is engaged in a nearly €1 trillion-equivalent plan to install 550 gigawatts of solar and wind power in its northern deserts, the equivalent of Europe’s total capacity, deploy reservoirs and grids gigantic underground water transport facilities and extend its TGV network to 70,000 kilometres. The third imperative is less costly and faster to implement, it is a massive energy savings plan targeting both speed on the roads and the temperature of housing and offices. All that remains is to have it accepted.