THERMAL HEAT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 2 October 1943, Page 2

THERMAL HEAT

POSSIBILITIES OF USE VALUE IN REHABILITATION BOOK BY AN EX-NELSONIAN Many laymen, watching the water bubbling somewhat uncannily from the bowels of the earth in New Zealand’s thermal regions and seeing the steam rise from the lumaroles, must have wondered whether such energy could not be harnessed lor the service of man. Mr J. Arthur Bruce, an exNelsonian and former member of the research staff of the Cawthron Institute, has seen them too but, with the (3ye of a trained scientist, and he has canvassed some of the possibilities of their use in a privately-printed book, “Nature’s I-leat Resources: Their Post-War Utilisation in the Thermal Regions.” Having had to conform to war standards, the book is of only 40 pages. It is Vol. 1 of a series that the author intends to issue on the same subject. Mr Bruce, who is a well-known research chemist of Dunedin, has long been interested in the phenomenon of thermal heat and some may think he is still before his time in advocating its exploitation not by destruction but by conservation. That is the great merit of his thesis. In projecting a general plan for bringing another of our natural resources into use he is not proposing to destroy anything but to utilise something which, apart from its scenic value and limited application for curative purposes is not at present the asset that it could become. HEAT MEANS LIFE For various reasons we have been slow to develop our latent resources. Two of these are water power and volcanic heat. When we consider the contrast between the old mill stream turning the water wheel and the thousands of horsepower generated by hydropower to-day we can see that we have begun to grasp opportunity in that field. Mr Bruce is anxious that a similar advance should be prudently made in the sphere of thermal heat itilisation. As a scientist he would be the last to jump to hasty conclusions. His book gives a reminder of what all will realise if they think about it; that, without heat in its appropriate form, all biological processes fail. Volcanic heat, he adds, is closely allied to fertiliser as a form of energy which plays its part in aiding the growth of plant, animal and human life. Anyone who has warmed his chilled body oy a fire, watched vigorous pi- nt growth in the warm spring and summer time or has been inside a Nelson glasshouse will know what he is aiming at. That subterra::can heat energy is available is illustrated by quotation of recent calculations that, stored up within the earth’s crust, is at least 30,000,000 times the heat available from the world’s coal resources. Only a smjjll part of this could be utilised, but he believes that, in volcanic and postvolcanic regions, much of the heat could be harnessed and applied for the needs of mankind in industry, agriculture and medical science, fncluued as one of these regions m New Zealand is the Maruia Springs. HEALING SCARS OF WAR One of the most timely sections of the book deals with the possibilities of thermal regions being used for the establishment of rehabilitation centres, especially for the treatment of neurosis cases arising from the war. Along with the curative side, Mr Bruce would consider setting up small, model horticultural settlements. The author points out that utilisation of thermal heat is a new science in which much experiment has yet to be made. There are, he says, only three places in the world where any real enterprise has been shown in developing thermal resources. These are Tuscany in Italy, Sonoma County in California and Iceland, with some other countries—including Japan —engaging in experiments. BASIS OF EXPERIMENTS As a beginning in New Zealand Mr Bruce suggests that subterranean heat might be experimented with on a comparatively small scale in some of the following directions; 1. Heating of glasshouses, production and ripening of out-of-season vegetable, salad and fruit crops; 2. Heating of soil in frames, Dutch lights, open beds and tree nursery beds, etc.; 3. Heating of homes and buildings as well as for various other domestic purposes, such as laundrying, baking and home drying of vegetables and fruit, etc.; 4. For dehydration and drying, including the drying of timber, wood pulp. eggs, wool, meat, milk, vegetables, fruit, fertilisers,’ manures, etc.; 5. The recovery from natural steam or hot springs on a small scale of certain chemicals and gases, e.g., sulphur, boric acid and carbon dioxide; 6. Production of power in a small way for purposes of study. A small geothermal plant would answer this purpose; 7. The use of natural heat sources near the sea for evaporation of salt water to make salt; 8. Heat prothe synthetic production of pnosphatic fertilisers. The practicability of such a prog rmme of research is a question for decision by the scientist. It does not however, require much technical know! ledge to realise that thermal heat is one of many New Zealand natural resources still waiting for the ingenuity itv^eeri 10 m t ke serve our communty needs. Further use to heal some of the ravages of war on the human be one of the first develop-