The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1924-10-31
WHO CAN
MAKE THE
SUN WORK?
Futue Of Mankind Depends
in Harvesting Solar
Power,
Times WASHINGTON Bureau,
1929 Ne4n York A 70

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3l.-The
worlds civilization depends on
whether or not scientists can learn
the secret of the little blade of grass
growing on your lawn.
Future generations of mankind
will either live in greater luxury
than we know today, or they will
be galley slaves and serfs. all de
pending on the progress made In
coming years in discovering how
plants transform the suns rays into
energy.
We face a time when all sources
of stored energy will be depleted,
says Prof II. A. Spoehr. Carnegie In
stitute Of Washington. Carmel
Coastal Laboratory, in the annual
report of the Smithsonian Institute.
To save civilization, botanists,
chemists and physicists must unite
now and work together to find a
Spoehr declares.
Must Learn Secret
Man must learn natures secret
and then must learn to do the work
little better than nature does it.
It's this way, the professor ex-
plains.
The sun is practically the sole
source of the worlds energy. All
living things must have a constant
daily supply Of emery, and this is
derived almost wholly from food.
Animals are all fundamentally de-
pendent upon plants for their food.
And plants manufacture the energy
they feed to man by photosynthesis.
IA process in which the suns light
acts upon carbon dioxide and
changes it into sugar for food, or
wood for fuel.
From the beginning Of time.
energy from the sun has been stored
N this manner. Plants of millions
Of years ago. fossilized, have been
stored in the earth as coal and oil.
Coal is really nothing but fossil solar
energy rays of sunlight stored be-
meath the earth for centuries.
This stored energy has made pos
sible the civilization Of today.
Throughout nature, the young are
protected and nurtured until they
can care for themselves. So man
has had his great patrimony Of fuel
TO help him as he struggled feebly
To overcome his environment But
the supply viii be gone some day and
civilization will have to depend on
the daily quota of energy from the
sun.
Energy Problems
Under present conditions, this VIII
be impossible. Growing plants are
The only method Of capturing solar
energy. yet il all the plants in the
world were used either for food or
fuel. Il all the worlds acreage were
cultivated intensively and these
plants used for food or fuel. there
would not be enough energy for the
worlds needs.
But Prof Spoehr points out that
far more solar energy falls on the
earth every day than all the plants
Of the earth are capable Of using.
Natures process is "a wasteful one,
to insure growing things a large
margin Of safety.
All that remains then. for man
kind, is to find out how plants
succeed in using the sunlight to pro-
duce sugar and fuel and 10 develop
an artificial method Of doing this
which may utilize the worlds waste
solar energy.
That's all, But not even start
has been made yet. The problem lies
within three big fields Of science and
no man is sufficiently versed in all
three branches to do it alone. There
must>be cooperation.
Professor SpOehr sounds the call
to arms. He makes the world
series and the election and the
round-theworld flight seem very in
significant by comparison with his
problem.