The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-12-19
HEAT OF THE FUTURE.
PLANNING FOR THE DAY WHEN
ANTHRACITE IS EXHAUSTED.

VIII 30 No More Anthracite Strikes
Because There WI 80 No Anthracite
Progress Made In Electric Heating.
What to do without anthracite GOALS
puzzling enough question now when
the shortage Is due to artificial causes;
but our children's children may have
to face a much great shortage through
natural causes. The quantity of an
thracite coal In this country admits Of
tolerably clear computation. Since its
shipment began In 1920 there have been
mined approximately 1,3OO,0OO,0OO tons.
The Pennsylvania commission, which
investigated the subject some years
ago reported that for every ton of coal
mined for consumption a ton and a
half were lost This included not only
the culm thrown on the dump, but the
coal necessarily left In the mine as pill
lars for the support Of the roof On
this basis 1t has been computed that
the inroads upon the original coal de-
posits of the Scranton district have
amounted to 9,25O0OO,OOO long tons.
The geological survey computes that
this is about one-sixth of the original
deposit At the present rate of con-
sumption the amount now remaining
would last for about $50 years; this
period will be shortened by a rapidly
increasing consumption with growth
Of population and luxury; or will
be heightened by economies which
the higher cost of this kind of coal
will bring about, and by the substitu-
ton of rival products. What the result
ant of all these forces will be is hard
to estimate.
The question of what the world will
do without anthracite coal is thus of
large interest. Electricity naturally
suggests itself as the great substitute.
1t offers heat and cleanliness, some
thing which coal other than anthra-
cite cannot give. But electric heat
ing is costly. Under present appliances
it is necessary to transform the heat
Of the fuel to electric energy, and then
change that into thermal energy, in
both of which processes there is a con-
siderable loss. 1t is roughly estimated
by electrical experts in the scientific
bureaus here that if one were to heat
house by electricity derived from a
central station it would take about a
ton of coal to develop thermal energy
equal to that derived from the direct
combustion of 1900 to 1900 pounds of
the same fuel in the domestic furnace.
About half of this waste would be
avoided if the electric plant were in
the building itself.
1t is obvious that the developments
of the future are likely to be in the
direction Of lessening the cost Of cleo
trio heating. For example, the rise
in the price of anthracite coal, by COM
parison with bituminous, will have a
notable effect; the latter coal is in nor
NAL times a much cheaper steam pro-
Queer, and it might be more profitable
to get only 60 or 70 percent of it's heat
value, through transmitted electricity,
than to get 100 percent with direct con-
sumption on the premises Of anthra-
cite. This comparison, of course, ap-
plies to the heat now practically OBJ
tainable, it being generally known that
not over 10 or Is percent of the Their
NAL value of ton of coal is utilized by
the best boilers and heaters. 1t is the
six or seven-tenths Of this 10 or 15
percent which is at the basis Of the
high cost Of electric heating.
Another tendency which may operate
to bring in electric heating is the com
parative ease with which it may bt
measured. In the modern hotel, apart
ment house, or office-building, very
large percentage of the heat goes on
of the window, not in ventilation
which is a justifiable extravaganza bu
in sheer and objectionable waste. TIL
fodger, on leaving his room in tn
morning, throws the window wide ope1
with the heat turned on in the hot
water radiators. A zero tempeTatur
outside coming through that open win
dow hammers away on the hot-wate
| pipes. Inc COdl-SIOhSE III LuS udSe
ment is constantly shovelling in sol
coal to keep up the battle If the JAM
tor goes into the dodgers room an
closes the window, the tenant takes Of
fence, and most people who deal wit
this question find it cheaper to heat u
the outdoors, limited only by the OF
{ Grafton of law of the diffusion Of case
than to try to convince the public {
the truth Of the elementary principle
of calorics. The tenant believes thu
the heat coursing through his pipes
his own property; he refuses to belieV
that he is loading down the genert
a | 1919. ,,lnrt rtn,.,r hoo ,1Ilrz hu Q