The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-01-02

PLANNING Fca W DAY WHEN
ANTHRACITE IS EXHAUSTED.


VIII 10 Nd. More Anthracite strikes I
Because There wan Be No Anthrncite-
Progress Made In Electric Heating
What to do without anthracite GOALS
a puzzling enough question now When /
the shortage Is due 10 artificial causes I
but our chiidrens 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 1890 there have been
mined approximately 1900 100000 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 I'm the mine as pill
lars for the support OF the roof. On
this basis it has been computed that
the inroads upon the original coal de-
posits of the Scranton district have
amounted to 3,25O,OOO,O0O 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 con-
siderable loss. 1t is roughly estimated
by electrical experts in the scientific
! bureaus here that If one were to heat
a house by electricity derived from
central station it would take about
ton of coal to develop thermal energy
equal to that derived from the direct
combustion of 1900 to 1900 pounds of
,n1 he IN fY1Vav
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 20 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, APP
plies to the heat now practically OBJ
tainable, it being eAerally known that
not over 10 or Is percent of the Their
NAL value of a tor bf coal is utilized by
the best boilers and heaters. 1t is the
six or seven-tenths of this 10 or Is
percent which is at the basis of the
nigh cost of Electric heating.
Another tendency which may operate
to bring in electric heating is the com.
parative ease with which it may BIZ
measured. InAthe modern hotel, apart.
ment house, or office-building, a very
large percentage of the heat goes ou'
of the window, not in ventilation
= which is ajustifiable extravaganza, bu
in sheer and objectionable waste. Thu
fodger, on leaving his room in thO
morning, throws the window wide open
with the heat turned on in the hot
water radiators. A zero temperatur,
outside coming through that open win
dow hammers away on the hot-wate
pipes. The coal-stoker in the base
, ment is constantly shovelling in sof
I coal to keep up the battle. If the JAM
tor goes into the lodgers room an
. closes the window, the tenant takes OF
fence, and most people who deal wit
this question find it cheaper to heat q
? the outdoors, limited only by the Of
7 Grafton of law Of the diffusion of gases
than to try to convince the pubic g
y the truth of the elementary prine le
r of calorics. The tenant belieY V
the heat coursing through his