October 21st 2013, Beijing Energy Club hosted a dinner for Lord Browne of Madingley, Vice Chairman of the Beijing Energy Club, Managing Partner of Riverstone Europe LLC and the former Chief Executive of BP to introduce his new book Seven Elements That Have Changed The World.
Former Energy Minister Zhang Guobao, Chairman of the Club, Professor Zhou Dadi, Vice Chairman of the Club, Dr ZhangYuzhuo, President of China Shenhua Group and 30 other experts attended the meeting. The “seven elements” described in Lord Browne’s book include Iron, Carbon,Gold, Silver, Uranium, Titanium and Silicon. At the dinner, Lord Browne introduced three elements that are closely related to energy sector: Carbon represents the fossil energy (coal, petroleum and natural gas), of which the exploitation and use have changed the world, but also brings enormous challenges of environmental pollution and climate change. Uranium is also a double-edged sword - it can be the cleanest and safest energy source, but can also be used to produce nuclear weapons with catastrophic effect. Silicon is both the fundamental element for telecommunication technologies and the raw material for PV cells. Today the penetration of information technologies into energy systems is changing the way energy is produced, transported and used. The most surprising element on the “seven elements” list is titanium. Lord Browne explained that titanium alloys are the fundamental material for supersonic aircraft, spacecraft and deep-water submarine, all of which have changed the world through human being’s growing ability on exploring the oceans and the space; at the same time titanium dioxide is the most widely used whitening element. As for hydrogen, Lord Browne said it is important part of the world just like many other elements, but has not created dramatic changesas the other seven elements did.
In the following discussions, Lord Browne and the dinner participants exchanged views on the global oil and gas market and price trends, actions to climate change, mergers and acquisitions for international energy companies, the Chinese reform, global energy governance and other issues.
The Chinese version of the “Seven Elements”will be published early next year by CITIC.