In 2023, a once-in-a-century wildfire occurred in the United States, and the cause of the fire was unexpected, a wooden power pole broke, and the electric spark caused it to burn, which in turn caused the wildfire.
This doesn't happen in China, because our power poles are made of cement and won't ignite.
In 1942, Tangshan Qixin Cement Company (formerly Tangshan Qixin Cement Factory) produced the world's first cement pole, which was sold all over the country. Cement poles are selling well, and the reason is very simple, at that time, China's forest coverage rate was very low, and it was not as good as now. In addition, many buildings in China were still civil structures at that time, and cement telephone poles could prevent fire, while ordinary people still lit kerosene lamps at home, and telephone poles were not used, which were only available in big cities.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, most places still use cement poles, now the ordinary cement poles are cylindrical, at that time it was more popular solid square cement poles, relatively thin, the quality is also very good.
After about the 70s, China's rural areas began to be fully electrified, and at this time, the production of cement poles could not keep up with the demand, so many rural areas in China also began to use wooden poles, mixed with cement poles.
Wooden poles don't just have to be cut down and put in the ground, they need to be processed before they can become poles. For example, the surface of the wooden pole should be peeled, and a charcoal layer should be burned with fire, and then tung oil or coal tar should be smeared, which can prolong the life of the wooden pole, and lime should be added to the pit where the pole is buried to prevent termites. These black wooden poles are now rarely seen in rural China, and 99 percent of them have been replaced with round cement poles.
In fact, there are also cement poles in large cities in the United States, but wooden poles are more common. In Texas and Florida, street neighborhoods have black wooden poles in front of every house. This is not to say that the Americans do not produce cement poles, but that wood is cheaper. In addition, the wooden pole is lightweight, so it is also easy to erect.
The United States has a large land and a small population, a vast forest area, and the per capita timber ownership is much higher than that of China, especially the redwood, which grows quickly, is straight throughout, and has moderate hardness and softness. Many sequoia trees can grow up to tens of meters in height, and when the branches are cut off, they become a fine wooden telephone pole with simple processing.
Which is better wooden pole or cement pole?
Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
The disadvantage of wooden poles is that its strength cannot be compared with cement poles, because the strength is low, so the distance of the cable can not be too long, and the number of piles using wooden poles in the same area of communities is more. In addition, wooden poles are very fire-resistant, and they are lightweight, and they are easily blown down in the event of floods and strong winds, and are not as stable as cement poles.
The disadvantage of cement utility poles is that they are too heavy and inconvenient to erect. The advantage is that it is very durable, the service life of wooden poles will not exceed 50 years, while cement poles can be used for hundreds of years as long as they do not have large-scale natural disasters.
However, cement poles do not degrade easily, which is intolerable to environmentalists, while wooden poles degrade very easily.
Why does the United States, which has a strong economy, prefer wooden power poles?
The first is path dependency. The United States is the birthplace of the Second Industrial Revolution, when China was still the Qing Dynasty, the United States has begun to popularize electric light telephones, they used wooden telephone poles at the beginning, and then they used to use it and could not change it. Many travelers to the U.S. say that wooden poles have become as much of a part of American culture as cowboys.
The second is that natural disasters in the United States are very serious. A special tornado, a super tornado, even a titanium alloy pole will be blown down. In the aftermath of the tornado, the power supply companies had to rebuild the transmission network, most of which were private companies in pursuit of maximizing efficiency, and the wooden power poles could be used for life, and it was easy to replace them anyway, and many residents lived on the plains.
If China develops wooden poles, the electricians will be busy, especially in Yunnan, Guichuan and other places, many poles are erected in a very bad environment, and it is difficult for vehicles to go up, and it is very troublesome to replace and repair wooden poles, so durable cement poles are simply used. UHV transmission is more powerful, using a large steel frame to pull wires, also called iron towers.
Finally, the U.S. industry is no longer in good supply, and the production of cement and steel is insufficient. Not to mention the telephone poles, even many residents' houses are made of wood. Many people say that this is their tradition, so to speak, the United States is not without cement buildings, many large villas are also made of reinforced concrete, but these building materials are very expensive, or the supply is less, the government is also deliberately suppressing reinforced concrete houses, the tax rate is higher than that of wooden houses.
China can use cement poles in a large area thanks to the rapid development of the cement and steel industry in the mainland in recent years, the total output of cement has been the world's first for 38 consecutive years, the government is also investing in infrastructure regardless of the cost, the national power grid is a game of chess, and the standards for poles are also very strict. The U.S. government does not have this control, and the power grids between states do not match, and the power supply in Texas was interrupted due to heavy snowfall, and the electricity bill skyrocketed hundreds of times, and other brother states in the United States could not save it, because the transmission voltage standards were different.