Industrial Processes, Energy Sources, and Global Industrialization
The Industrial Process
Industry encompasses activities that transform natural resources into products or semi-finished products. Four essential elements are involved: raw materials, energy, human labor, and capital.
Types of Industry
Based on the products obtained, industries can be classified into three broad categories:
- Basic and heavy industries: Produce raw materials for other industries.
- Capital goods industries: Transform raw materials from basic industries into finished products for other industries.
- Consumer goods industries: Produce articles intended for direct use by the population from natural or semi-finished raw materials.
Raw Materials
Raw materials are a staple of industrial production. Depending on their origin, they may be mineral, animal, vegetable, or chemical.
Mineral Products
A significant portion of raw materials are mineral products. Metallic minerals, most importantly iron, are fundamental to the steel and metallurgical industries. Non-metallic minerals, such as phosphates used as fertilizers, are exploited in large volumes. Diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires are among the most valued gemstones.
Energy Sources
The process of transforming raw materials into products requires energy. This energy is obtained from various sources. In the pre-industrial stage, energy came exclusively from muscle power, wind, water, and fuelwood. Since the Industrial Revolution, these forms of energy have gradually been replaced by coal, then electricity, oil, natural gas, and more recently, nuclear energy. In recent decades, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal power have gained traction, albeit slowly.
Raw Materials and Energy Sources: The Conflict
Developed countries have employed various strategies throughout modern history to control raw materials and energy sources. Initially, they did so through colonialism, and later, after the colonies gained independence, through pacts and agreements with the newly emerging states. Control over raw materials and energy minerals is a major foreign policy objective for developed countries, and it is a factor in some of the wars and crises that have erupted in the late 20th and early 21st centuries in countries with significant natural resource reserves.
Fossil Fuels and Radioactive Minerals
Energy minerals include fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) and radioactive minerals, which play a role in global mineral production. The production value of energy minerals constitutes 75% of the total world production of minerals, while metallic minerals make up 20% and non-metallic minerals only 5%.
Coal
Coal was the first mineral used as an energy source. It originates from the slow decomposition and petrification of forests over millions of years. The oldest types are anthracite and bituminous coal, which have high calorific power. Lignite is a more recently formed coal with lower calorific value. The steel industry, power plants, and electricity production are the major consumers of coal. Since 1960, coal production began to decline due to the depletion of the best sites and competition from oil. However, the 1973 oil crisis highlighted the disadvantages of depending almost exclusively on a single energy source and led to the re-enablement of coal mine exploitation.
Oil
Oil is a dark, viscous liquid fuel formed millions of years ago by the accumulation and fermentation of plants and animals at the bottom of lakes and seas. Currently, oil is the primary global energy source and the raw material for a major petrochemical industry. The main oil-producing countries are Saudi Arabia, the United States, Russia, and Iran.
Nuclear Power
Controlling the process of atomic fission of uranium in nuclear reactors has made it possible to harness the enormous amount of heat energy released to produce electricity. A few decades ago, it was thought that nuclear power could replace oil as the main energy source. However, due to the significant risks involved, many countries have abandoned or curtailed their nuclear plant development.
Natural Gas
Natural gas has the same origin as oil and is often associated with oil fields, where it forms pockets in the upper layers. It is used in power plants, the chemical and metallurgical industries, and homes.
Electricity Production
Electricity is not a primary energy source but a form of energy. To produce electricity on a large scale, five different power sources are used: water, coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium. There are also power plants that use alternative energy sources: wind, solar, geothermal, and tidal power. Wind energy is harnessed using wind turbines in wind farms. Solar energy can be harnessed as heat energy, through solar ovens, or as light, using photovoltaic panels. Geothermal energy harnesses the heat from the Earth’s interior. Tidal energy, also known as meromotrius energy, utilizes the driving force of the tides.
Power Plants
Hydroelectric plants exploit the power of water in rivers and lakes flowing over a slope to move turbines that produce electricity. Thermal power plants use the heat energy released during the combustion of coal, petroleum products, or natural gas, or from the fission of the uranium atom.
Physical Factors of Industrial Location
The proximity of energy sources and raw materials are key physical factors influencing industrial location. Proximity to an energy source was essential in the first stage of the Industrial Revolution; the most important concentrations of factories occurred near coal fields and along rivers, where water could be used as an energy source. Proximity to raw materials is crucial when they are heavy or have a low unit value.
Human Factors of Industrial Location
Among the human factors influencing industrial location, the following should be highlighted:
- The existence of a significant nearby market to absorb much of the production.
- The availability of abundant skilled manpower.
- Good transportation infrastructure that facilitates the flow of goods.
- Financial infrastructure and public services to provide basic supplies.
- The existence of an industrial infrastructure, which in turn contributes to the installation of new complementary industries.
Industrial Spaces
Industrial development, which began in the 18th century, has created its own forms of land use:
- Industrial centers are isolated points of industrial activity that have developed around a particular location factor but lack the incentive to stop growing.
- Industrial complexes consist of complementary industries.
- Industrial regions have a less dense and more diverse industrial fabric than industrial complexes.
- Technology parks are a new form of industrial space that brings together leading industries in which scientific and technological research plays an important role.
- Business parks are devoted to office space and high-technology industries.
The Industrial Landscape
The emergence of these different spaces defines a very characteristic landscape. The classic industrial landscape is typical of the centers and industrial complexes of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, when coal was the energy source used to heat blast furnaces and operate machinery. The urban industrial landscape has formed around major urban centers. It consists of processing industries and consumer goods, more recently powered by electricity or petroleum and equipped with modern factories organized into industrial estates. The rural industrial landscape is determined by proximity to raw materials.
Distribution of Industry
Most industries are concentrated in several regions of Europe, Latin America, and East Asia. The industrialization process started in England during the 18th century. Throughout the 19th century, it gradually spread across the European continent, centered around coal, and reached North America. In Japan, foreign capital investment, an abundant and disciplined labor force, and the adoption of Western technologies led to rapid industrialization in the late 19th century, making it a global leader. During the 1980s, industrialized countries moved activities to Southeast Asian countries. Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea became”workshop countries” More recently, a shift in industrial activity towards Latin American countries and North Africa has been observed. China is poised to become the next major industrial power of the 21st century, with high productivity, low labor costs, and a large market.
Industry in Developed Countries
Developed countries continue to control most of the industrial capital, research, and development of new technologies. Companies are transforming and merging, with a tendency towards concentration and the creation of large multinationals. Their headquarters are almost always located in a developed country. Meanwhile, subsidiaries involved in raw material processing and production chains are often moved to developing countries with a dual objective: to avoid the environmental regulations of wealthy countries and to benefit from lower labor costs.
Industry in Underdeveloped Countries
Industrialization in developing countries is at a very low level. Domestic industry has had limited development, often relying on imported machinery from developed countries. Larger companies are often subsidiaries of multinationals.
Industry in Europe
Industrialization began in the 18th century near coal-producing sites. Large industrial concentrations also exist around major ports, involved in processing imported raw materials for the production of goods.
Industry in Spain
The industrialization process in Spain began in the mid-19th century but was very slow and localized. Since 1993, full incorporation into the European Union has expanded the market for Spanish industry but has also led to increased competition due to the free entry of European products. There are currently four major industrial regions: the Basque Country, Asturias, Catalonia, and Madrid.
Industrialization in Catalonia
Catalonia has been the industrial engine of Spain. Catalan industrialization began very early, in the late 18th century, following the English model of cotton labor mechanization. However, the lack of energy sources and raw materials forced Catalan industry to specialize in the production of consumer goods. Today, Catalonia is the leading industrial region in Spain and has a degree of industrialization similar to that of the major industrial regions of Europe. Catalan industrial production accounts for more than a quarter of the national total.
Small and Medium Enterprises
Catalan industry is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises. However, the globalization of the world economy has led to the phenomenon of industrial relocation.
Construction
Construction has been one of the driving forces of the Catalan economy. Construction activity can be divided into four groups:
- Rehabilitation of old housing
- Construction of new homes
- Non-residential building construction
- Civil engineering works