Prime Movers of Globalization: The History and Impact of Diesel Engines and Gas Turbines

by Vaclav Smil

The many books on globalization published over the past few years range from claims that the world is flat to an unlikely rehabilitation of Genghis Khan as a pioneer of global commerce. Missing from these accounts is a consideration of the technologies behind the creation of the globalized economy. What makes it possible for us to move billions of tons of raw materials and manufactured goods from continent to continent? Why are we able to fly almost anywhere on the planet within twenty-four hours? In Prime Movers of Globalization , Vaclav Smil offers a history of two key technical developments that have driven the high-compression non-sparking internal combustion engines invented by Rudolf Diesel in the 1890s and the gas turbines designed by Frank Whittle and Hans-Joachim Pabst von Ohain in the 1930s. The massive diesel engines that power cargo ships and the gas turbines that propel jet engines, Smil argues, are more important to the global economy than any corporate structure or international trade agreement. Smil compares the efficiency and scale of these two technologies to prime movers of the past, including the sail and the steam engine. The lengthy processes of development, commercialization, and diffusion that the diesel engine and the gas turbine went through, he argues, provide perfect examples of gradual technical advances that receive little attention but have resulted in epochal shifts in global affairs and the global economy.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science, Economics, Technology, Engineering, Business

261 pages, Hardcover

First published July 30, 2010

About the author

Vaclav Smil is a Czech-Canadian scientist and policy analyst whose work spans energy, environment, food, population, economics, history, and public policy. Educated at Charles University in Prague and later at Pennsylvania State University, where he earned his Ph.D. in geography, Smil emigrated from Czechoslovakia to the United States in 1969 following the Soviet invasion, before beginning his long academic career at the University of Manitoba in 1972. Over the decades he established himself as a leading voice on global energy systems, environmental change, and economic development, with particular attention to China. Smil has consistently argued that transitions to renewable energy will be gradual rather than rapid, emphasizing the persistence of coal, oil, and natural gas and highlighting the difficulties of decarbonizing critical industries such as steel, cement, ammonia, and plastics. He has also been skeptical of indefinite economic growth, suggesting that human consumption could be sustained at much lower levels of material and energy use. Widely admired for his clear, data-driven analyses, Smil counts Bill Gates among his readers, while colleagues have praised his rigor and independence. Known for his reclusiveness and preference for letting his books speak for him, he has nonetheless lectured extensively worldwide and consulted for major institutions. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Canada, Smil remains a highly influential public intellectual.

Reviews

[Andrew O'reilly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately I didn't enjoy it. Just seemed like an endless recitation of dry facts and figures that did little to illuminate the central thesis of the book.

The technical explanations were minimal and seemed aimed at people who already understand how diesel engines and gas turbines work and/or were there to convince the reader of the author's mastery of the domain. There were also frustrating gaps in the explanations. For example, the author explains that 2-stroke diesel engines produce more power than equivalently sized 4-stroke engines and so 2-stroke engines are often used for propulsion in large cargo ships. However he goes on to say that the same ships also have separate 4-stroke diesels that are used to drive generators that provide electrical power to the rest of the ship without explaining why 4-stroke engines are more suited to this application. I would have liked to have known why the power efficiency of 2-stroke engines does not matter for electrical generation when it does for propulsion?

All in all, it feels like the author did a bunch of research into how engines work and then wrote this book as a way to solidify his own understanding as opposed to teach his audience.

[James Erskine · Rating 3 out of 5]

First part of the book was really interesting. However it becomes a slog of numbers and doesn’t pick up until the last chapter

[Yashaswi Murthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are enough facts, graphs and numbers here about marine diesel engines and gas turbines/turbofan jet engines to fill a container ship and a 747 cargo plane. The author analyzes some of these statistics and draws a few striking inferences but I would have liked more of that instead of being overwhelmed by trivia.

[May Khaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought it was mostly very boring, but then, I just can't make myself interested in how engines work etc.

The parts that I were interested in could probably have been condensed into a long article.