The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-10-08
BY CHARLES p. STEINMETZ.
presented exclusively by the. writer g
Cosmopolitan News Service,

UG Uk0te
BY CHARLES p. STEINMETZ.
(PresentOd exclusively by the writer e
Cosmopolitan News Service.)
SAN FRANCISCO, Cal. Oct. B.
These are the two great problems Of
the future toward which the woriO
is driving-the problem Of energy
and the problem Of food supply.
The one energy source which Il
available today IL the light OF the
sun, In competition with which the
total energy supply Of all the fuel
we burn and the hydraulic energy
available il nothing. While the total
energy Of all the coal and all the
water power we have and use In o
year does not amount to more than
billion lxilowatts. the energy OF the
sun which shines only upon that
part Of the United States which IL
arid and cannot be used for agricul.
ture is about SOC, 00o, 900 900 k1lo'
watts, nearly one thousand times as
much as all the coal and water
power together.
So there is q source Of energy
vastly greater than anything we are
using now, or that we could pos
sibly use. There would be no
scarcity II we could open up this
source Of energy, but we have no
means Of utilizing this solar energy
economically, because it is too wide
w distributed OF diluted. The real
problem here 10 the concentration
OF this energy. :.
Cost Is Too Much.
There have been solar heat en-
gines built, in which the solar heat
energy has been concentrated by
reflectors. These are all very in
genious devices, and II some rich
man somewhere In the wilderness
wants to run q little pumping sta.
ton in connection with his house,
he might be able to afford 1t, but
economically, in considering the
worlds energy supply, 1t is out Of
the question because the cost of in
stallation Is 90 enormous compared
with the amount Of energy you get
that 1t lie economically impossible.
But that brings me to q new
field--that Of biological engineering.
While this field IL not entirely new,
yet relatively little has been done
in it. Men like Burbank have done
wonderful things in evolving new
plants. His work il real engineer
ing, but materials with which he
works are living plants.
When we first began 70 use the
sugar beet in sugar production not
only was the beet very much
smaller than its present average
size but it contained less than half
the percentage Of sugar that 10 con-
tanned in the sugar beet Of the pres
ent time. SO, in this case, biologi-
cal engineering more than doubled
the content.
We Use Solar Energy.
The energy which we use now,
after all, is solar energy, because
when we burn coal we are using
the sunlight which WIS stored mil
lions of years ago by the plants In
the primeval forests during the coal
age. When you use water power
you are using solar energy which
evaporated the water and carried
it up into the clouds, from whence
1t was condensed and deposited on
the highlands and runs In the rapid
river, to be collected by US and
made to turn the wheels.
How can we collect this energy
and concentrate It? The only solu-
ton of the problem that I can see
lies with the biologic engineer.
The leaves year after year collect
the energy Of the sunlight, absorb
it in their chlorophyl and produce
chemical compounds. We have all
around US the collection Of solar
energy by plant life, but it takes
lifetime for a forest to grow
and collect energy. Why could
not the biological engineers Of
the future develop new forms Of
vegetation which would collect the
sunlight at a rate hundreds OF
times moro rapid than our present
vegetation collection scheme? Per-
haps the tail grasses might be the
starting point from which, by a
process OF selection during gen
GRAFTON after generation, we could
work toward new varieties and find
new species which would grow at
such a rapid rate that we could
raise energy crops and 80 collect
energy from our lands to supply
our needs, especially If we can Oh
tain high grade energy directly,
without going through the trans
formation Of heat.
Nitrogen Problem.
In the production of a food we
use two classes of compounds, the
carbohydrates and the nitrates, the
first of which are essentially heat
producing and the second 1ife-giving
The carbohydrates will be taken
care Of by the energy crops already
mentioned. Then there would re-
main the problem Of the nitrogen
supply Of the world, the protein
supply.
AS we get in from cereals and
meats, 1t Is a wasteful process; 1t
is extremely extravaganza. Only a
very small part of the plant is
protein, and 1t takes a whole year
to grow. Then we may fee| 1t to
animals to get animal proteins, but
the efficiency OF the production of
animal .proteins is certainly very
small. Considering the amount of
food the animal eats during his
whole life to the time when 1t Is
only small part is
represented by animal proteins.
New Field Opened.
The question Of feeding future
populations opens a new field for
the biological engineer. In the past
there has never been any system
attic method Of producing proteine.
The natural protein producers are
the m1crO-organisms which develop