NEW SOURCES OF POWER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 10 April 1934, Page 2

NEW SOURCES OF POWER

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE Air A. M. A. Struben, at his installation as president of the Society of Engineers in London, prophesied new types of engines for vehicles, aircraft hopping like sparrows from roof to roof, great world arterial airways with floating aerodromes, the formation of a water grid covering the whole of the country, and the harnessing of now sources of power, including that of the tides and plant growth. “We shall see on the same road,” said Air Struben, "trolley-buses run by electric current flora the grid, public coaches run by heavy oil engines or high-pressure gas taken from bombs, lorries running on coal-dust engines or on gas (produced on the vehicle) from solid fuels, including anthracite, coke, smokeless fuel and charcoal. This_ is not pure ■lulcs Verne, as the forerunners of such engines are already here. Tide power becomes a feasible proposition in Great Britain now that tile intermittent current it would produce most economically can be used to feed the electric grid. Solar energy will probably be utilised to produce power in countries favoured by the sun. As coal and oil supplies become scarce, or costly, derivatives from plant growth, such as alcohol, will take their place, or novel methods of extracting heat and power from plants wiy he evolved.”