I 82 



NATURE 



[October 6, 192 1 



aggregate of about 450,000 horse-power. 

 Although much of this potential output is not com- 

 mercially feasible, it would give the equivalent of 

 500,000 horse-power over a normal working week 

 if only 30 per cent, of it were fully utilised. 



In the report recently issued by the Irish Sub- 

 Committee of the Board of Trade Water-power 

 Committee it is estimated that approximately 

 500,000 continuous 2^-hour horse-power is com- 

 mercially available in Ireland, and that if utilised 

 over a 48-hour working week, its capacity would 

 be at least seven times as great as that* of the 

 engine power at present installed in the country 

 for industrial purposes. 



It appears then that, although the water-power 

 possibilities of the United Kingdom are small in 

 comparison with those of some more favoured 

 countries, they are by no means so negligible as 

 is commonly supposed, even in comparison with 

 the present industrial steam-power resources of 

 the country. 



The capacity of the fuel-power plants installed 

 for industrial and public utility services in the 

 United Kingdom in 1907 was approximately 98 

 million horse-power. Allowing for an increase of 

 15 per cent, since then, and an average load factor 

 of 35 per cent., this is equivalent to 32,000 million 

 horse-power hours per annum, or to a con- 

 tinuous 24-hour output of only 3-7 million horse- 

 power. 



According to Sir Dugald Clerk, the average 

 consumption of coal per horse-power hour in this 

 country is about 39 lb., which, on the above basis, 

 would involve a total annual consumption of 

 fifty-five million tons for industrial purposes, not 

 including railways or steamships. 



Adopting this figure of 32,000 million horse- 

 power hours as the annual demand for power for 

 industrial purposes, it appears that the inland 

 water-power resources of the United Kingdom are 

 capable of supplying about 27 per cent, of this, 

 a proportion which, in such an industrial country 

 as our own, is somewhat surprisingly large. 



Many of the small powers would be well adapted 

 for linking up, as automatic or semi-automatic 

 stations, into a general network of electricity 

 supply, or for augmenting the output of municipal 

 supply works, as has been done so successfully, 

 for example, at Chester, Worcester, and Salis- 

 bury. 



The development of the many small schemes 

 available in the Scottish Highlands would prob- 

 ably have a great effect on the social life of the 

 community. It would go far towards reviving 

 and extending those small local industries which 

 should form an essential feature of the ideal rural 

 township. Commercially such undertakings may 

 appear to be of small importance, but as a factor 

 in promoting the welfare of the State, economical 

 and political, their influence can hardly be over- 

 estimated. 



Some of the larger schemes in Scotland would 



lend themselves admirably to transmission to its 



industrial districts, while others, in close vicinity 



to the sea-board, would appear to be well adapted 



NO. 2710, VOL. 108] 



for supplying chemical, or electro-physical, or 

 metallurgical processes. 



Conservation. — The importance of water-power 

 development from the point of view of conserva- 

 tion of natural resources requires no emphasis. 

 When the value of coal purely as a chemical asset, 

 or as a factor in the manufacture of such materials 

 as iron and steel, cement, etc., is considered, 

 its use as a fuel for power purposes, when any 

 other equally cheap source of energy is available, 

 would appear, indeed, to be unjustifiable. 



The consumption of coal in the best modern 

 steam plant of large size, giving continuous out- 

 put, would be about nine tons per horse-power 

 year, and on this basis the world's available water 

 power if utilised woulH be equivalent to some 

 1,800,000,000 tons of coal per annum. The 

 world's output of coal in 191 3 was approximately 

 1,200,000,000 tons, of which about 500,000,000 

 tons were used for industrial power purposes, so 

 that on this basis 55,000,000 continuous water 

 horse-power would be equivalent to the world's 

 industrial energy at that date. 



Not only does the use of water power lead to a 

 direct conservation of fuel resources, but it also 

 serves to a notable degree to conserve man power. 

 To take an extreme example, each of the 40,000 

 horse-power units now being installed at Niagara 

 Falls will require for operation two men per shift. 

 It is estimated that to produce the same power 

 from a series of small factory steam plants, more 

 than eight hundred men would be required to mine, 

 hoist, screen, load, transport by rail, unload, and 

 fire under boilers the coal required, while, if 

 account be taken of the additional labour involved 

 in horse transport, wear and tear of roads and of 

 railroad tracks and rolling stock, the number 

 would be considerably increased. 



Uses of Hydro-Electric Energy. — While a large 

 proportion of the energy developed from watei 

 power is utilised for industrial purposes and for 

 lighting, power, and traction, an increasing pro- 

 portion is being used for electro-chemical and 

 electro-metallurgical processes. 



In Norway the electro-chemical industry 

 absorbed 770,000 horse-power in 1918, or approxi- 

 mately 75 per cent, of the total output, as com- 

 pared with 1500 horse-power in 1910. Of this 

 some 400,000 horse-power was utilised in nitrogen 

 fixation alone. 



The production of electric steel in the U.S.A. 

 increased from 13,700 tons in 1909 to 24,000 tons 

 in 1914, and to 511,000 tons in 1918, this latter 

 quantity absorbing 300 million kw. hours, equiva- 

 lent to almost 400,000 continuous horse-power. 



In Canada, in 1918, the pulp and paper industry 

 absorbed 450,000 horse-power, or 20 per cent, of 

 the total, while the output of central electric 

 stations amounted to 70 per cent, of the total. 



The electrification, on a large scale, of trunk 

 line railways is also a probability in the not dis- 

 tant future. In the U.S.A. 650 miles of the main 

 line of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul 

 Railway, comprising 850 miles of track, have 

 been electrified, the power for operation being 



