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FROM WORLD POWER CONFERENCE TO WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL – 1923 -2013

FROM WORLD POWER CONFERENCE TO WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL 90 YEARS OF ENERGY COOPERATION, 1923-2013
REBECCA WRIGHT, HIROKI SHIN, FRANK TRENTMANN

Published by the World Energy Council, 2013

BIRTH
In the summer of 1924 H. G. Wells visited the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, London. For Wells, renowned for his journalism, science-fiction writing and socialism, a lot of the charade was ‘quite absurd’, but he was
pleasantly surprised to discover ‘a strong breath of human common sense’ at the Exhibition. That common sense, Wells explained, was the First World Power Conference, which had been called together by the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers Association (B.E.A.M.A.) to consider the future of energy resources. Instead of the ‘stuffy, foggy conceit’ of the British Empire, Wells continued, the Conference was truly global in spirit. Even the Prince of Wales, who gave the opening speech, met Wells’ approval. The speech commended the Conference as a significant step towards removing ‘one of the greatest obstacles to progress’ arising from the disparity in the utilisation of knowledge: while searching for knowledge – in finance, science and research – was a universal activity, its results were unevenly distributed and utilised. Wells felt that the Prince of Wales left behind his usual ‘imperialist egotism of the narrower sort of English’ for a genuinely internationalist vision. (…)

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