CONSERVATION OF POWER RESOURCES 



4' 1 ' 



ervoirs and reserve steam pi nits arc included 

 in the estimate. Both have been iK monstratcd 

 to be practicable and undoubtedly in>iild be 

 considered in any estimate made if tin- avail 

 ahlc water power resources of tin- country. 



I'sing the smaller figure of thirty million 

 horsepower as an illustration, to develop an 

 equal amount of energy in our most modern 

 -team-electric plant*, would re<|iiire the burn- 

 ing of nearly jj^.ooo.ooo ton-, 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 e\ 

 of the total ]irodnction of the country in 1906. 

 At an average price of $.} per ton it wo- M 

 require the consumption of coal costing 

 $ i ,800,000,000 to produce an equivalent po\M-r 

 in --team plants of the present type. 



I he 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 he exercised to insure 

 the preservation of our water power re- 

 sources and to secure the maximum practical 

 development. 



I 'sing 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 approxi- 

 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 oi 

 agricultural products a* well as in total power 

 consumption, is a striking demoiistrat 'on of 

 the close inter-relation and mutual depend- 

 ence of these great factors which, in the ag 

 gregate, measure the industrial progress oi 

 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 enterprises 

 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 fCSOUl 

 are exhausted or wasted, the result will be 

 disastrous. 



( )f the total est 'mated power at present 

 produced by prime movers, about twenty -i\ 

 million horsepower is produced by steam 

 engines, t'-.ree million horsepower by water 

 rs, and seven hundred thousand horse- 



er by gas and oil engine-. I he*e figures 

 emphasi/e the pre-ent posjti,,n ,,f the -t< am 

 engine in our industrial development, and the 

 relatively much less important place now 

 cupied by water pi >w i r. 



i M" the total thirty million hor-epov\er. in- 

 cluding the railroads, us,-,) HI the country, 

 it is estimated that nine million horsepower, 

 or thirty per cent., is now utili: d i ! vtrically . 

 I his remarkable growth has been accom- 

 plished in twenty -liv The us, 

 electric power at the pn - nt time is being 

 doubled approximately every five year- 

 contrasted with the phenomenal doubling of 

 the total power every ten year- If the pi 

 cut rate of increase i* maintained, electrically 

 applied power will equal or exceed the power 

 mechanically applied in v>2O. This great 

 growth is due to the convenience, earning 

 capacity, and economy resulting from the use 

 of electrically applied power. The sign ri- 

 cance of this remarkable increase in th- 

 of electric power in manufactures and other 

 industries lies in the market thus provided 

 for the utilixation of our water ]>, 

 wherever located and whatever their magni- 

 tude 



Where coal is the source of power, elec- 

 tric transmission and distribution greatly 

 duce the amount burned to perform g:\eii 

 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 Oi 

 from the introduction of plant economies and 

 skill in operation not attainable in the smaller 

 plants. A material saving i*- effected also m 

 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 

 formerly carried, for example, by one hun- 

 dred small plants - operated undei condi- 

 tions more nearly approximating uniformity 

 of load, and therefore at higher economy. 



(ireater economy can be obtained. . 

 m our large plants, through the moi ' ' 



use of so called fuel econonn i-erheat- 



ed sUam, higher vacuum, and belter coin 

 lion under the boiler-. \Ve may expect Mill 

 higher efficiency from 'i lopment 



larger boiler and engine units I 



ing appliances, which an 

 important in -mall plant-, hecor 

 importance in large plant*, and will have still 

 greater influence on st, am prad the 



price of fuel increases and tin 

 ib creasi 



This discussion woi-M incomp 



without mention . I possibli 



economy that mav | 



and other *imilar i iignii 5. I h 

 engines of this character air lat 

 of the electric motor their development has 

 been -low. and they occupy a relatively un- 

 important place a- power prod' The 



