Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1912-09-04
LIGHTING ECONOMY.
Central Station Service of Electric
Light and Power Versus Service
from Private Plants.

Central station service of electric
light and power has increased in use
and popularity, in the last twenty
years, to an extent which can hard
ly be comprehended. A study of the
following statistics, taken from the
last edition of the Special Reports
OF the Bureau of the Census dated
1907, Will give some idea of the won
derful growth of the business:
The horse power capacity of cen.
trail electric light stations in 1902
was 3,204,000, and in 1907 was g..
61S,000, AN increase of 122%;
In 1902 there was in use in the
United States 100000 incandes
cent lamps, and in 1907 there was il
use Al, 445,000, an increase of 125 %
A typical case of increase is that
of the Boston Edison Co. In 1885,
this system covered an area of one
eighth of square mile, whereas il
now covers an area of 500 square
miles. Originally the engines were
of so horse power capacity, but these
were long since displaced by steam
turbins of 5000 horsepower each
Twenty-Five years ago, the Com.
monwealth Edison Co., Chicago, haC
capacity of 5000 horse power, and
today are operating 100000 horse
power, and are continually increas,
| ing their capacity.
A large part of the increase in cen.
trail station service has been due to
the abandonment of isolated or pri.
vate plants which were used quite
extensively about ten years ago in
some of the large city buildings. AZ.
ter using these plants for a time il
was found much more expensive to
operate them than to buy the service
OF the central stations.
The trend of opinion and Judgment
has turned away from these isolated
or private plants and toward centra
STATEN service to such an extent thai
it is now generally understood thai
the only place where there is neeC
or excuse for installing a private
is where the service is not available
from central station.
A marked departure from this
practice is the recent purchase of an
isolated plant by the supervisors Of
Winneshiek county for lighting the
court mouse and Jail.
An excuse for this purchase was
made of the fact that lighting bill
Of $100 per month was paid by the
county to the Upper Iowa Power Co
Before this private plant was con
tracted for this company called the
attention of the Board to the fac
that the court house and jail were
being lighted by about 500 lamps
practically all of which were of al
old obsolete type of carbon lamp
which takes three times the curren
and costs three times as much to Cd
crate as the present Mazda lamp,
now universally used. Their atten
Itlon was called to the fact that tn,
clock tower alone was responsible,
I for about three-fourths of the entir,
! lighting expense. In this tower Wer,
10 thirty-two candle power old car
bon lamps, and as they were burned
all night, the waste was excessive
On the first of June of this year w,
installed meter to measure tn,
amount of current used in the clocl
tower and it was found that 70 pc
cent of the current for court hous,
and jail during June was used in tn,
clock tower. In July of this year s.
per cent of the current used was fol
clock tower and the actual cost O
lighting court house and Jail, with
out clock tower was $3.50. Consid
ering these figures, it is plain that tn,
cost of lighting the court house anC
all was very reasonable and that the
use of obsolete lamps, particularly in
the clock tower where lights We're
burned all night, was great waste
which might have been avoided Ions
ago by the use of few efficient
lamps.
The Upper Iowa Power company
made written proposal 20 the Board
Of Supervisors, this proposal being
placed on file, agreeing to install
Mazda lamps instead of the old car
bon lamps. This proposal contained
a guarantee as follows:
Provided that lights are used as
during the preceding twelve months,
we guarantee that monthly bills will
snow a reduction of one-half as COM
pared to monthly bills for twelve
months previous to the time change
is made in lamps. Should monthly
bills. subsequent TO change, not show
a reduction of at least fifty per cent
we will, upon request of Board of
Supervisors, remove the lamps i'm
stalled on this proposal, replace the
old lamps which are now in use and
refund the amount paid for the lamps
furnished"
The lighting bill for twelve months
previous to the time this proposal
was submitted amounted to $116S, so
that 1T was guaranteed that the year
iy bill would not exceed 1854, If cur
rent We're bought from us.
Below we give a conservative esti-
mate of the cost of operating the
private plant which is being installed
in the court house, and which, it is
understood will cost about $4,000:
Interest on $1,000 at $4,000
Depreciation (wear and tear
which is always high on
storage batteries, even if
operated by an expert.) 10000
operation extra help 80. 10000
Fuel, oil, waste and water. $4,000
Total $9S5. 90
This does not include repairs which
are always expensive in the operation
OF this class OF machinery.
The storage battery installed in the
court house has about half the capac-
ity required to operate the clock tow