THL FUEL PROBLEM

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 12, 15 January 1914, Page 3

THL FUEL PROBLEM

OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE. During the last few years the problem of the world's fuel resources has absorbed the attention of both commercial and industrial interests and scientific research in the older countries of the world. It has been recognised that the supplies of fuel in the world are limited, •and in exploiting them the world has been, as it were, living on its capital without an eye to economy for future generations. Of late, however, the posi ; tion has been exhaustively investigated, and .stock has been taken by scientific I experts of what resources are still left I and their probable duration at tho pre- i sent rates of consumption. The need for a more economical utilisation of coal and oil has been clearly emphasised and ways and means have been devised to provide, at least, practically against the prospect of a fuel famine in the not very distant future. The whole situation is admirably summed up in a special supplement of The Times containing an expert statement and exposition of the various aspects of the problem as ib piesents itself to the world to-day. Tho treatment of tho question is on a largo and ample scale in a series of authoritative articles dealing with tho present, past, and future of fuel in tho übo of mankind. The various applications of fuel are first set out with an account of the advances made towards economy up-to-date in boilers, steam turbines, gaa and oil engines, and even on the domestic hearth. The fcoal resources of the world are elaborately estimated on the basis set out by leading authorities. One of the most striking points in this section of The Times Fuel Number is the boundless future before China, which is estimated to have resources second, only to those of the United States. Australasia does not figure very prominently in the list and on the whole it does not appear that the British Empire outside England is over abundantly supplied with either coal or oil. The consumption of coal ia going up steadily, and the prospect is for an average dui'ation of about four hundred years before the commercial possibilities of coal are exhausted. The mining of coal is fully described with interesting sidelights on its dangers. Hardly less instructive are the pages devoted to the uses to which coal is put and the vast commercial organisation which sees to its distribution. An important section shows how coal is grievously wasted at the present time, and suggests methods by which economies can be effected. Chief of these ia the low temperature distillation of bituminous coals, producing a smokeless semi-coke, excellenly adopted to domestic purposes, a rich gas and extremely valuable by-products in the shape of motor spirit, illuminating and lubricating oils, tar, pitch, and sulphate of ammonia* Coal treated in this way would go at least twice as far as it goes now in the steam boiler, the domestic hearth, and the gas works. The possibilities of the world's peat resources are then canvassed, and progress up to date indicated. Oil fuel receives the wide space it deserves as the best of all fuels, but unfortunately the one which is likely to be exhausted the first. The New Zealand oilfields receive favourable mention. Finally, after emphasising the value and convenience of gaseous fuel, the issue turna to the future and examines it in the light of our present knowledge. The conclusions are extremely interesting but would take more space than can be afforded here. The Fuel Number maintains the great and deserved reputation of The Times for its fine treatment in special issues of the great industrial and commercial questions of the day.