OUR SOURCE OF POWER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 56, 20 October 1911, Page 2

OUR SOURCE OF POWER.

SIR W. RAMSAY’S WARNING. Sir William Ramsay, as president of the British Association, at Portsmouth last week gave an address on the need for conserving our coal supply, which has attracted much attention. “We have in this world of ours,” he said, “only a limited supply of storedup energy; in the British Isles a very limited one—namely, our coalfields. 'lhe available quantity of coal in the proved coalfields is very nearly 100,000 million tons : it is easy to calculate tiiat if the rate of working increases as it is doing our coal will he completely exhausted in 175 years. In the life of a nation 175 years is a span. When our prices rise, owing to the approaching exhaustion of our supplies, we may look forward to the near approach of famine and misery.” How to get Energy. Other possible sources of energy are “the possibility of utilising the tides, the internal heat of the earth, the winds, solar heat, water-power,-the extension of forests and the use of wood and peat as fuels, and, lastly, the possibility of controlling the undoubted , but almost infinitely slow disintegration of the elements, with the view of utilising their stored-up energy. The Hon. R. J. Strutt has shown that in this country at least it would be impracticable to attempt to utiiise terrestrial heat from bore-, holes; others have deduced that from the tides, the winds, and water-pow- , cr small supplies of energy are no ; doubt available, but that, in com- ; parison with that derived from the i combustion of coal, they arc negli- ■ gible; nothing is to be hoped for ; from the direct utilisation of solar j heat in this temperate and uncertain 7- climate; and it would bo folly to consider seriously a possible supply of , energy in a conceivable acceleration ql the liberation of energy by atomic change. It looks utterly improbable, = too, : that we shall ever bo able to utilise the energy duo to the revolution of the cartn on her axis, or to , her proper rotation round the sun. Look to tho Forests. s “Attention should undoubtedly be paid to forestry, and to the utilisation of our stores of peat. Our neighbours and rivals, Germany and France, spend annually £2,200,000 on the conservation and utilisation of their forests; the net return is £O,000,000. There is no doubt that we could imitate them with advantage. Moreover, an increase in our forests would bring with it an increase in our water-power; for without forest land and rain rapidly reaches the sea, instead of distributing' itself, • so as to keep the supply' of water regular, and so more easily utilised. Various schemes have been proposed for utilising our deposits of peat. I believe that in Germany the peat industry is. moderately profitable; but our humid. climate ; does' not lend itself to natural evaporation of most of the large amount of water contained in peat, without which processes of distillation prove barely remunerative. Wa Rely on Coal. “We must therefore rely chiefly on our coal reserve for our supply, of energy and for the means of supporting our population; and it is to tho more economical use of coal that we must look in order that our life as a nation may be prolonged. We can economise in many ways—by the substitution of turbine engines for reciprocating engines, thereby reducing the amount of coal required per h.p. from 41b or 51b to TJlfj or 21b; by the further rephipement of turbines by, gas engines, raising, the, economy to 30 per cent df : the total energy available in the coal, that is, lowering the coal consumption per h.p. to 11b or 1 Alb; by creating the power at the pit-mouth, and distributing it electrically, as is already done in the Tyne district. Wasteful Domestic Fires. “The domestic, fire problem is also one which claims our instant attention. It is best grappled with from the point of view of smoke. Although the actual loss” of therraan energy in the. form of smoke is small—at most less than a half per cent of the fuel consumed—still the presence of smoke is. a sign of waste of fuel and careless stoking. In works; mechanical stokers which ensure regularity of firing and complete combustion of fuel are more and more widely replacing hand-firing. But we are still utterly Avastcful in our consumption of fuel in domestic fires. There is probably no single remedy applicable; but the introduction of central heating, of gas fires, and of grates which permit of bettor utilisation of fuel will all play a part in economising our coal. It is open to argument whether it might not be wise to hasten the time when smoke is no more by imposing a sixpenny line for each oifcnco; an instantaneous photograph could easily prove' the offence to have been committed, and the imposition of the fine might be delayed until three warnings had been given by tho police. A Medical Allegory. “Now I think that what I wish to convey will bo best expressed by an allegory. A man of mature years who has surmounted, the troubles of childhood and adolescence without much disturbance to his physical and mental state gradually becomes aware that he is suffering from loss of blood; his system is being drained of tins essential- to life and strength. 1 What does he do? If he is sensible he calls in a doctor, or perhaps several, 1 in consultation; they ascertain the soat of tho disease, and diagnose the cause. They point out that while 1 consumption of blood is necessary for , healthy life, it will load to a premature end if the constantly increasing drain is not stopped. They suggest certain precautionary measures. . and if he adopts them he has a good chance of living at least as long as his contemporaries; if he neglects them is days are numbered. “That is our condition as a nation. Wo have had our consultation in 1903. The doctors were tho members of the Coal Commission. They showed flic gravity of our case, and we have turned a deaf ear. It is true that the self interest of coal cojnsumors is slowly leading them to adopt more j economical means of turning coal into energy. But when trade is good im- E provements are postponed; when bad times come, then there is no money j to spend on improvements. J What Can be Dono? i “What can be done?-—I would ans- ' wer: Do as other nations have done and are doing; take stock annually. The Americans have a permanent Commission, initiated by Mr Rooso'■eic, consisting of three representa- F lives from each State, the sole ob- 8 jnct of which is to keep abreast with B (bo diminution of the stores of nat- s oral energy, and to take steps to | lessen its rate. Two courses are open 5 to us: first, the laissez-faire plan of 8 having to self-interested competition S the combating of waste; or, second, jfl initiating legislation which, in the in- if! t.erost of the whole nation, will on- j doavour to lessen the squandering of our natural resources. | “Concentration of energy in the

form of electric current at h igh P?- I jCJiLial makes it possible to convey it for long distances through thin and therefore comparatively inexpensive w ires; and the economic co-efficient | of the conversion of mechanical into | electrical and of electrical into mechanical energy is a high one; the useless expenditure does not much exceed l-20tli part of the energy which can lie utilised. These considerations would point to the conversion at the pit-mouth of tho energy of the iliel into electrical energy, using as an intermediary turbines, or preferably gas jiigines; and distributing tiio electrical energy to where it is wanted. A Wanted Invention. “The increasing use of gas for factory, metallurgical, and chemical purposes points to the gradual concentration of works near the coal mines, in order that the laying down of expensive piping may lie avoided. “An invention which would enable as to convert the energy of coal directly into electrical energy would revolutionise our ideas and methods, yet it is not unthinkable. The nearest practical approach to this is the Mond gas-battery, which, however, has not succeeded, owing to the imperfection of the machine.”