New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-09-27
FUEL ECONOMIES.

It is not improbable that the advance in the
price of coal which has taken place In Europe
during the last year and the more recent and
Slighter increase in America will be followed by
a reaction sooner later, inasmuch as the
causes though different in the two cases, are
in their nature temporary. The strike explains
the situation at home, and an abnOrmally
enlarged consumption for industrial purposes
seems adequately to account for that abroad.
Nevertheless the experience may prOfitably
direct attention afresh to possibilities of fuel
economy which have not been recognized as
fully as might be, especially by managers of
large power plants. who are the chief con-
sumers of coal, with the exception of the rail
ways.
In the first place. the piles of culm which
have accumulated at the mines for years repre-
sent an enormous waste. OF late it has been
customary to burn finer sizes of coal than was
once considered practicable But millions Of
tons of dust still go unburned which contain
precious combustble material In Europe the
business of cementing this stuff together and
moulding ii into briQuettes for fuel has devel-
oped to considerable proportions In America
numerous efforts have been made in this diTec-
ton, but thus far with little success. On the
other side of the Atlantic, too the practice Of
burning powdered coal, injected in streams into
a furnace, has been carried much further than
here. Its feasibility has been so thoroughly
demonstrated that the sluggishness of Ameri-
cans in adopting it is surprising Again, the
soft coal nuisance is largely due TO a waSteful
method of stocking. 1t has been shown that not
only is smoke a product OF imperfect cOmbuS-
ton, but also that it's development can be
avoided by taking greater pains in feeding a
fire. considerable saving and the suppression
of a nuisance to the neighborhood can thus be
effected simultaneously Chimneys do not testify
emphatically in regard to anthracite as they
do when bituminOus coal is burned. but it is
not the less likely that a similar economy would
result from improved stocking.
After all, the present system of recovering
the energy stored by sunshine in the vegetation
of the carboniferous era is Iamentably imperfect
Scarcely more than one-tenth of the power theo-
retCally contained in coal is realized by the
best steam engine in the world. Chemists have
sought to devise a way to generate power in
the form of electricity directly from carbon, so
as TO minimize the loss sustained through exist
ing methods The effort has proved fruitless as
yet, but it is much too soon to pronounce the
attempt futile. What a triumph it would be
for industry If not nine-tenths nor three-quar-
tiers, but even One-half. of the pOtentiality of
coal could be utilized! The cost of power would
thus be materially reduced, and the final ex-
haustion of the coal deposits-which is merely a
question of tme-would be postponed for years.
perhaps for centuries. 1t would be infinite
pity if man should discover how best To employ
this magnificent gift of nature only when prac-
tically all Of it had been squandered
Long before Americas and Europes splendid
deposits show signs of giving out Asia will
doubtless become a producer on a large scale.
1t is not incredible that within the next ten
years some of China's immense coal fields will
be fully developed and wills contribute literally
enough TO the worlds supply to affect prices.
Neither the present generation nor the next
need worry over the possibility of not having all
the coal it may require. Then, too. our Kelvins
Ericssons and lesser geniuses have long con-
templated with eagerness the likelihood of ut-
iZing the incalculable stores of energy residing
in solar heat and the tides The problems of
capturing the one and Harvesting the other
are not so simple as they may seem. And it is
always risky to predict when one does not know.
Nevertheless, not a particularly bold flight of
the imagination is required TO believe that be-
fore the close of the twentieth century such
practical successes will have been achieved in
these two lines of experiment that coal mining
and steam engines may have become obsolete
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