New-York tribune., 1921-09-09
Auto of Future
TO Run by Sun
Power, Maybe
Chemists in Session Here
Dream of Day When Old
Sol Will Be Tanned to
Operate All Industries
Atomic Energy Next Step
Vast Dynamos, Concealed in
All Matter, Challenge
Man, Scientist Asserts

A coalless and gasoiineless age, in
which coal mines and oil wells will be
abandoned as profitless and power for
automobiles, industry and home com
fort will be obtained from heat scien-
tifscally gathered from the sun. was
predicted by speakers before the Amer
lean Chemical Society's session held
Yesterday in the College of the City of
New York
DR.. F. H. Baekeland, professor of
chemical engineering at Columbia, and
DR.. Arthur D. Little, en- industrial
chemist OF Boston. asserted that chem
istry was endeavoring TO solve the
problem of harnessing the suns heat
as substitute for the heat stored up
Ia coal and oil,
Their predictions followed assertions
Ky Sir William j. Pope, president of
the British Industrial Chemical So
csety, and Dr. William R. bancroft. of
Cornell University, that science must
rtdoubie its energy if civilization IS to
recover from the losses of the wer.
Plants Are Master Chemists
When we possess full working de-
tails concerning the plant-leaf process
fer converting carbon-dioxide and
water into formaldehyde and oxygen by
utilizing the suns energy, and when we
can make indigo and quinine by the
identical methods adopted by the
plants, chemical technology will be an
entirely different proposition from
what 1t now is" said Sir William. "The
solution of this problem must come
from the proper utilization of the radi-
an energy which comes to us from the
sun; we require efficient methods for
transporting solar energy from the
tropics for use in our more temperate
climes. 1t is perfectly possible .ha4
the scientific study of ol-bearing
plants in tropical regions may lead to
such improvements in yield and cost Of
production that vegetable oils will re-
place the ordinary fuels, coal and
Petroleum. now used the world over"
In contending that the conversion os
radiant energyy into electric currcnt
is one Of the futures possibilities thus
doing away with the intermediary of
coal and oil, DR.. Little pointed out that
the desert of Sahara receives daily
solar energy equivalent to that of six
billion tons of coal. Power obtained
from the tides and from what is known
as the kinetic energy of atoms may be
within the reach of industry, Mr.. Little
said.
Conceal Vast Energy
We now recognize that concealed
In matter of every kind are stores of
energy immensely greater than those
derived from chemical reaction" said
Dr. Little. eve recognize them of an
altogether higher order of intensity
and magnitude than the energy derived
from burning oil or liberated from the
most powerful explosives"
Speaking on the problem of utiliz-
ing the rays of the sun, DIR. Baekeland
said:
"Our vast coal beds and our petrol
cum wells and our natura! gas are
merely the result of light energy
stored up from the plant or animal
life OF former geological periods. This.
in itself. ought to impress US with the
enormous possibilities Of photochem-
cal synthesis and yet, here is field
where the scientist or engineer has
accomplished next to nothing In the
utilization of this marvellous energy we
have not gone beyond the art OF ma
king photographs.
when it comes to transforming
light energy into chemical synthesis we