Bisbee daily review., 1908-03-15
PROBLEM IF
 FUEL BECOMES
 MORE SERIOUS
Exhaustion of Coal Supply Not Far Distant and Experts De- clare Substitute Must Be Found Before Long.
(From Inc Engineering Record. i

l F'rom the Engineering Record.l | With the domestic coal supply
 dIwindling at the rate Of 100000, 900
 tons per year and the foreign supply | disappearing at an equivalent rate,
 the problem of fuel supply takes on j more than an academic interest. 1 It is all very well profanely to in- | quire what posterity has done for us
 that we should forbear skinning the
 earth's resources on its account, but | from the present outlook this matter
 has ceased to involve waiting for posterity. It has reached a point
 where there may be trouble within
 the lifetime of children now alive. If
 the coal consumption of the country
 increases at anything like the present
 rate it will probably not be more
 than quarter of 8 century before the calamity of far dearer fuel will
 be upon us. It is not that the supply
 will be exhausted by then, but that
 scarcity, long transportation, and ! deep mining will cooperate so tos en-
 nance the price of coal as to complete | ly modify present conditions.
 Example of Recent Famine. The coal famine of few years
 since shows the disastrous result of even slight shortage in forcing up | the price. What would be the in dustrial situation with steam coal at
 S10 and upward per ton permanently. | It is not a pleasant thing to con- | template, and yet such is the situa- | tion which confronts us in the not distant future. It will not be long ! before most of the remaining coal will be low grade bituminous or liz l nj A rf oR h4 Aa1,l xvo4 remaining untouched are, in fact, the
 meanest kind of Ignite, entirsIy un. suited for Transportation
 | There is not enough wood eft to cut any figure in the industrial situa-
 ton. Of peat, good, bad. and indif- ferent, there is a large amount but 1 thus far all attempts to get it into
 utilizable shape on large scale | have proved somewhat futile
 The hydraulic power available at reasonable cost of utilization is being
 rapidly taken up Even if 10,000,000
 horsepower were in good shape for profitable development, it would, at rough approximation, relieve the pres
 ent coal consumption by only some
 thing like 10 per cent, while that con sumption has risen 30 per cent in less 1 than five years. Hydraulic powers
 then, valuable as it is, can be regard ed only as small auxiliary.
 Opportunity for Electricians. It is now inc for electrical engi- | neers~ to make good their perennial | bluff about distributing power from the coal mines? This proposition has | been up for a long time, yet nothing substantial has been accomplished. Except for a plant in South Africa
 and one in Pennsylvania, there is as ! yet nothing like a serious power 1 transmission from cheap coal There l is vast amount of culm, Ignite, and
 such like stuff which cannot be prof
 itably transported, but might be
 burned at the mouth of the mine
 with good economic results if the
 work were seriously undertaken.
 Most of it is so situated that it can be adyantageously utilized in no other way, unless by the generation and transmission of fuel gas, which, again is a scheme not yet seriously at- tempted from such sources of fuel. It is high time that progress were be-
 ing made in these directions.
 Problems in Burning Lignite. Of course there are difficulties at present in the way of burning Ignite efficiently and on large scale. Most boilers and furnaces are designated for use with fairly high-grade fuel,
 so that burning Ignite involves Spec ial appliances. Yet there are indica tions that the problem of using liz
 mite economically has been at least proximately solved Certainly there are already in existence plants which do use it with pretty good re- suits. It is sufficiently rich to do
 we'll once the art oT -burRtng it is mastered. Vita big turbo-generator plant worked on such cheap fuel, pow CT could be brought down to point that would permit transmission over l a long radius and sale at a. good l competitive figure, a figure, ID ract that would staggeT good many ny dro-electric plants.
 Gas production and transmission
 under moderate pressure, as in the 1 case of natural gas, would be also practicable in the case of some grades of poor fuel, and would give the abil ity to furnish general heating, as well
 as power.
 Heating is 2 terribly serious matter l in our Northern climates, and if one relies on electrical heating the out
 look is bad, since the whole power of Niagara could not keep even New
 York City from freezing to death
 When it comes to heating, in Tact
 there is not enough hydraulic power | to be worth serious consideration Fuel gas, however, can be made to
 help out very effectively. and may I come to be our chief reliance.
 Present Outlook Scrious.
 The present outlook is grave, and ! it is time to be up aud doing Each
 year. with it's increase Of fuel con
 sumption. brings down the current | estims te of tho endurance of the sup
 ply. Not long ago 1t was 500 years
 then 200 and now practical exAaus- ! tion of the available supply seems a 1 bare century of, with a serious in crease of cost looming up in the near future. It is about time to start the
 fight to preserve tse existing status of things, lest the pressure on indus
 try bring disaster. Even now there is a. tendency to shift activity south | ward ,lto a milder climate.