Evening star., 1897-08-26
ELECTRICITY FROM CARRIAGE.
The New Method Of Converting Waste
Into Power.

The New Method of Converting Waste
Into Power.
From the Electrical Engineer.
One of the problems which confront mu-
inequalities of every size and description is
the disposal of garbage. Where towns are
located near the ocean in proximity to
large bodies of inland waters the usual bad
practice is to load the offal on barSes tow
it out several miles from land and dump
it. Most of it probably goes to the bottom
but enough keeps afioat to find its way
ashore, as the disgusted and nauseated
bathers at Coney Island and on the New
Jersey coast can vouch for. In Chicago the
practice of dumping garbage into the
source of the citys water supply, Lake
Michigan. has given rise to such epidemics
of typhoid fever that the intake for the
water mains has recently been pushed out
again several miles further into the lake
Where no such large bodies of water exist
the only alternative is to dump the foul
mass at some presumably safe distance
from the inhabited locality, filling up
flats" where il rots and testers indefi-
nitely. AS time passes and the electric
railway reaches out its arms, these filled
in flats become the building lots of the
real estate speculator, and the inhabitants
of dwellings erected on them are constant
ly subject to the noNious emanations from
the made ground on which they live. All
this is an old story, Yet no attempt worth
to remedy this state of affairs. In strong
contrast to our own supneness on this
subject, and perhaps because of the greater
pressure of the necessity, are the efforts
making in England to solve this question in
a satisfactory and at the same time eco
nomical manner The cremation of gar
bage i'm so-called dust Instructors has row
been introduced in number of English
communities with apparent success, but
what is more to the point is the utilization
Of the heat value of this waste product
for the generation of steam for driving
electric light engines. The latest example
of this class of installation is hat erected
by the Shoredtch vestry, London. Per-
haps the most salient feature of this in
stallation is the employment of the Halpin
thermal storage system. This leaves the
work OF the boilers practically independ-
ent of the load on the station, and permits
of a continuous disposal of the garbage.
The example before us leads us to believe
that in this direction many of our own
electric light and power companies may
find way to increase their profits with a
comparatively small original expenditure
1t may be taken for granted that ony mu-
nicipality would welcome q proposition
that would relieve it wholly or in part of
the expense of carting or dumping the
city garbage several miles off: il might
even be, and usually is, willing to pay
something to be felieved of the trouble and
expense. Even granting the low calorific
value of garbage as a fuel. the abundance
of the supply and the absence of cost to
the company WOulU make ltS Use under the
boiler just that much clear profit. But 1t
seems to us that, aside from the purely
economical side of the question. there is
another which is well worth considering in
these days of municipal ownership agita-
ton. We may be mistaken, but we believe
that an electric light company that would
offer to receive and cremate or render
all, or a part, of city'S garbage would
raise host Of friends in that community,
on whom the corporate property destroyer
would make little impression. Thus from
several points of view 1t appears worth
while for American electric light COM
panies to look into the garbage fuel cues
ton, or to consider the matter of going
into the garbage rendering business, where
1t can be done without offending the nos
trils of the neighborhood. The tentative
efforts made in this direction by many Of
our American communities attest the need
of some systematic dealing with the prob-
lem, for our cities are growing RAPIDLY.
while notions of economy and of the value
of refuse forbid longer resort to the bar
barrie methods of old.