CONSERVATION OF POWER RESOURCES 



461 



ervoirs and reserve steam plants are included 

 in the estimate. Both have been demonstrated 

 to be practicable and undoubtedly should be 

 considered in any estimate made of the avail- 

 able water power resources of the country. 



Using the smaller figure of thirty million 

 horsepower as an illustration, to develop an 

 equal amount of energy in our most modern 

 steam-electric plants, would require the burn- 

 ing of nearly 225,000,000 tons of coal per an- 

 num, and in the average steam engine plant, 

 as now existing, more than s^x hundred mil- 

 lion tons of coal, or fifty per cent, in excess 

 of the total production of the country in 1906. 

 At an average price of $3 per ton it would 

 require the consumption of coal costing 

 $1,800,000,000 to produce an equivalent power 

 in steam plants of the present type. 



The supply of water power is limited, how- 

 ever, when the rapid rate of increase in our 

 power requirements is considered, and great 

 care, therefore, must be exercised to insure 

 the preservation of our water power re- 

 sources and to secure the maximum practical 

 development. 



Using the data furnished by the census 

 returns of 1900, 1902, and 1905 as a basis, 

 and applying the prevailing rate of increase 

 in the industries included in these reports, 

 and adding an equivalent amount for the 

 steam railroads, it is estimated that the total 

 installed capacity of prime movers in all our 

 land industries for the year 1908 appro.xi- 

 mates thirty million horsepower. 



The average load on steam and other en- 

 gines is much less than their rated capacity, 

 and, owing to the overlapping of loads, it 

 is probable that the total average load does 

 not exceed one-third or one-quarter of this 

 amount. 



During the past thirty years the total 

 amount of power used in our manufactories 

 and other industries, as recorded by the 

 census, has doubled approximately every 

 ten years. The fact that substantially the 

 same rate of increase has existed in coal pro- 

 duction, railroad gross earnings, freight ton- 

 mileage, passenger mileage and the value of 

 agricultural products as well as in total power 

 consumption, is a striking demonstration of 

 the close inter-relation and mutual depend- 

 ence of these great factors which, in the ag- 

 gregate, measure the industrial progress of 

 the nation. Yet the records of power used in 

 small units are far from complete. 



We cannot foretell how long the present 

 rate of increase in our industrial enterpr'ses 

 will continue. This will be determined by 

 the general laws which govern industrial de- 

 velopment and by the increase in wealth. It 

 is clear, however, that if our power resources 

 are exhausted or wasted, the result will be 

 disastrous. 



Of the total estimated power at present 

 produced by prime movers, about twenty-six 

 million horsepower is produced by steam 

 engines, tkree million horsepower by water 

 r»otors, and ■ seven hundred thousand horse- 



power by gas and oil engines. These figures 

 emphasize the present position of the steam 

 engine in our industrial development, and the 

 relatively much less important place now 'oc- 

 cupied by water power. 



Of the total thirty million horsepower, in- 

 cluding the railroads, used in the country, 

 it is estimated that nine million horsepower, 

 or thirty per cent., is now utilized electrically. 

 This remarkable growth has been accom- 

 plished in twenty-five years. The use of 

 electric power at the present time is being 

 doubled approximately every five years, as 

 contrasted with the phenomenal doubling of 

 the total power every ten years. If the pres- 

 ent rate of increase is maintained, electrically 

 applied power will equal or exceed the power 

 mechanically applied in 1920. This great 

 growth is due to the convenience, earning 

 capacity, and economy resulting from the use 

 of electrically applied power. The signifi- 

 cance of this remarkable increase in the use 

 of electric power in manufacturies and other 

 industries lies in the market thus provided 

 for the utilization of our water powers, 

 wherever located and whatever their magni- 

 tude 



Where coal is the source of power, elec- 

 tric transmission and distribution greatly re- 

 duce the amount burned to perform given 

 mechanical work. This results from the sub- 

 stitution of a few large and highly efficient 

 boilers and engines for a larger number of 

 relatively small and uneconomical ones and 

 from the introduction of plant economies and 

 skill in operation not attainable in the smaller 

 plants. A material saving is effected also in 

 the application of the power directly to the 

 work through motors instead of indirectly 

 through inefficient countershafting and 

 belting. 



A further material gain also results from 

 the fact that a large plant carrying the load 

 formerly carried, for example, by one hun- 

 dred small plants is operated under condi- 

 tions more nearly approximating uniformity 

 of load, and therefore at higher economy. 



Greater economy can be obtained, evert 

 in our large plants, through the more general 

 use of so-called fuel economizers, superheat- 

 ed steam, higher vacuum, and better combus- 

 tion under the boilers. We may expect still 

 higher eificiency from the development of 

 larger boiler and engine units. These econo- 

 mizing appliances, which are relatively un- 

 important in small plants, become of great 

 importance in large plants, and will have still 

 greater influence on steam practice as the 

 price of fuel increases and the cost of capital 

 decreases. 



This discussion would be incomplete 

 without mention of the great possible fuel 

 economy that may result from the use of 

 gas and other similar engines. Though 

 engines of this character ante-date the use 

 of the electric motor their development has 

 been slow, and they occupy a relatively un- 

 important place as power producers. The 



