Evening star., 1939-02-26

another century and prices are almost
certain to be much higher.
Says the committees report to the
President: 1--WE are depicting our re-
serves of oil faster than the rest of the
world. We must consider the possibility
of being the first among the oil-produc-
ing nations to feel the pinch. We must
consider whether to use more wisely our
available supply, or to manufacture high
cost substitutes, or to depend-With OBJ
vious hazards-on foreign oil for our
motor cars and airplanes, our tractors
and our battleships.'
There is much the same picture in
regard to natural gas There are prob
ably reserves of about 100000 900 900 900
cubic feet. The annual consumption is
less than 1000, 100000 900 cubic feet. So
there is enough to last for half a CEN
tury. 1t isNery likely that enormous new
reserves will be discovered in the mean
time and methods devised for more eco
nomlc utilization. But new discoveries
cannot keep on forever.
VII SuDSttute Hint Answer,
Even after all the oil is exhausted 1t
ooes not mean that there will be no more
automobiles or liquid power engines,
Ihey can be run, for instance, with al.
cohol. Man can make alcohol in wear
IN almost any quantities he wishes,
whereas 1t took nature thousands Of
years to make oil. Almost any vegetable
product can be turned into alcohol a.
TACT which impressed itself on manv per-
sons IN the bathtub gin DAYS of the 20s.
one school OF economists has urged that
use OF alcohol as motor fuel be made
compulsory to provide market for farm
prooucts and put an end to any depres-
sion IN agriculture. Very likely it would
90 that, but the change would be costly
agriculture would gain, but at what
many estimate would be a tremendous
cost to industry and to the motoring and
house-heating public.
1here are other sources of power, The
'loes could be utilized. Eventually thev
PROBABLY will be at some favorah1e
places. such as Passamaouoddv No.
oody ever has maintained that this ia
not a practical scheme, from an enei.
heerlng standpoint. II is merely mat
Ter OF cost and of present demands. Di.
rect conversion of the heat of tho en-,
INTO usable power has possibilities DR..
Chafles u. Abbot, secretary of the Smith
sonlan institution, has been a pioneer
IN developing sun-driven engine Here
again, however, it would be extensive
ana considerable shifting of centers of
INDUSTRY would be required. America {
q great industrial cities would have to be
located In the Southwest.
Abraham Lincoln thought that there
was very little future to electricity or
steam. There was room for enormous
developments, he thought, in the use of
WlndmlIIs. Quite recently communities
nave been turning to wind power to gen.
crate electricity for lighting. but yerv
little IS added to the sum total of power.
experiments have been made on deriv.
Ing power from the temperature differ.
entails in deep water or in the earth
1hls source of power, like atomic energy
Itself. is very problematcal. Neither can
be achieved without tremendous invest
ments. The National Resources Com
mittee thinks that no great hopes can
be based on them in the present state
of knowledge.
Water Power Remains,
They are left, then, with the very i'm
portant resource of running water with
Whlch the North American continent has
been very abundantly endowed.
Theoretically the United States has
water power resources capable of gen.
Grating 100000 100000 kilowatt hours
year. very small amount of this ac-
tually is utilized. In 1887, the last year
LOT Whlch there are accurate records. the
total produced was 43,7O2 100000 kilo-
watt hours, or less than 10 per cent.
great deal of this, like the millions
OF tons of gold in the sea. probably is
forever beyond the reach of man. Some
OF the streams are in Inaccessible places
Some OF the potential power is distrib-
uted among streams too small to warrant
any sort OF power plant installation. Some
Is highly seasonal. very great in flood
times and dwindling almost to nothing
IN times OF drought.
The Federal Power Commission esti-
mates that potential 273.OOO 900 600
additional killowatt hours per year may
be utilized eventually-about half the
total supply and six times the present
output. This would amount to more
than twice the total of electrical energy
used by the United States in 1887 from
all sources and for all purposes.
Development Costly.
Unlike other natural resources. water
power cannot easily be exhausted. No
matter how much is used there is al
ways just as much left. The processes
which reduce the flow of streams nor
mally are very slow, producing notable
changes under natural conditions only
in periods of thousands of years. This
does not mean. however, that this sort
OF power is cheap. 1t requires enormous
ly expensive installations. The upkeep
costs are heavy. Above all there are the
problems of transportation of power.
Electricity evaporates very rapidly in
deed as it gets further and further from
its source. How to prevent this trans
portation loss is recognized as one of
the major problems of physical science
today
Repeatedly within the last few years
the engineering limit of transmission has
been extended. Twenty years ago it was
Penerallv agreed that mower could not