WATER POWER

Evening Post, Issue 19, 23 July 1934, Page 8

WATER POWER

POSITION IN CANADA

SUPPLY OF ELECTRICITY

COMPARISON WITH AMERICA

(From "The Post's" Representative.) •VANCOUVER, June 0. Canada now occupies second place among tho nations in developed water power, with 7,300,000 horso-power, compared with the United States, 15,000,000; Italy, 0,000,000; Japan, 4,000,000; and -.Franco, Switzerland, and Germany, each with between 2,000,000 and. 3,000,000 horse-power. The present installation in Canada is only 17 per cent, of tho potential development of the recorded resources of the Dominion, which permit of a total installation of 43,000,000 horse-power. Water power dominates tho entire electric industry of the Dominion as it generates 98 per cent, of tho output of tho central electric stations, which m turn have about 87 per cent, of the total water power installation. The remainder is established at pulp mills, mines, electric railways, and miscellaneous industries. About 5 por cent, of tho total output was exported to the United States last year, or about the proportion exported to that country two years before, QUEBEC IN THE LEAD. Quebec leads wih 3,500,000 horseoZnl^ followea by Ontario, with ;ft°s ana Blitish Columbia, with '-0,000 horse-power. Turbine installation in Canada is now nearly two and a half times as great as it was a decado ago, and has increased by 28 per cent, since 1929. Indeed, the capacity added during the four years of the depression, namely, 1,000,000 horsepower, was 200,000 horse-power more than during the prosperous years, 1926 to 1929. . The recent peak of activity was reached in Ontario in 1930, and in Quebec iii 1931. These two provinces and British Columbia have been the sceno of continued activity, especially on tho St. Lawrence and Ottawa Bivers ana their tributaries. Water power bulks largo in the- total supply of energy used in Canada derived from sources other than firewood, with a consequent theoretical displacement of tho other fuels and power materials,. A comparison between the ratio in Canada and the United States is interesting:— Canada. U.S. % % Coal, domestic .... 2-1 59 Coal, imported ... 27 —. Water power 32 s Fuel oil, gasolene, *■ kcroseno 15 24 Natural gas 2 9 An explanation of tho comparatively low percentage of water power energy in tho United States, in spite of the extendod uso of electricity, lies in the fact that dnly about ono-third of the latter is derived from water power, as comparod with 98 per cent, in Canada. Tho greater use of petroleum products and of natural gas in tho United States is duo in some measure to tho abundance of tho domestic supply, but it is interesting to note the predominant dependence of both countries1 on coal, with its derivatives, coke and manufactured gas. About 60 per cent, of the coal used in Canada goes into consumption for industrial purposes, and of this amount nearly half is used by the- railways. A little' more 'than half the. coal of all types consumed/in Canada, is imported; the decline in imports,since 1927 (37 per cent.) has been oven greater than in.clomestie production, (32 per cent.).