LIGHT AND POWER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 140, 8 March 1919, Page 7

LIGHT AND POWER

HOW HUMAN LIFE MIGHT BE IMPROVED. VIEWS OF SIR OLIVER LODGE. ' In an article in the London "Observer" Sir Oliver Lodge, the eminent scientist, pleads for a new era in tho homo life and work of the people, He writes;— "Hitherto our methods of utilising natural power have been dirty and wasteful. We have been content to dig up coal in enormous quantifies, transfer it to a distance on lines of rail, cart it to its destination, and there burn it crudely and ignorantly and incompletely, so as to be troubled not only with dusty ash but with the moro volatile products of incomplete combustion let loose into the atmosphere. The result has been that tho great maority of the English' race now liveunder a perpetual pall-of- thin smoke; to which, indeed, they get accus-* tomed, but which undermines their health and lessens their vigour.

The Remedy. "What is the remedy? First to deal with coal as what it is, a great admixture of valuable hydrocarbons, many of which are far too good to be merely burnt; these can be separated out and employed for chomical and agricultural purposes, so that only the refuse gas and coke shall be left for burning. And these residual products can then be burnt completely and oleanly. That is the first step. Nest wo must realise that solids <lo not travel freely, nor can they be conveyed so easily as ' gases and liquids; these can bo much more'readily transmitted to a distance; while as for the travelling power of electricity, it is so extraordinary ns to have become proverbial. It is literally as quick as lightning. _ ' ... . " . "Coal itself should not be 6ent on journeys >it should'be dealt with chemically, in suitable retorts, at or near its source, in a way which is becoming well known now to gas engineers. Gas can bo transmitted through pipes to centres of pbpulation for the production there of easily manageable heat, without encroaching on town area for tho erection of unsightly corporation gas works. Electricity can likewise bo generated and distributed for purposes of convenient and healthy power and light. "To carry out the generating and distributing system economically, Overlapping 'of- many-conflicting interests must bo avoided; lienco it must be done on a largo sdale. Tho conditions of average human existence hitherto have really not been reputable, considering the amount of knowledge now available if it were effectively used. ''When the country has adopted a well-thought-out. plan for tho scientific use of fuel, instead of the present crudely barbarous method of flinging lumps on ' to a lire, everyone will .be amazed and rather chagrined that it was not adopted long ago. It seems likely that half the need for crowding people in factories will then disappear. With easy power that can bo switched on and oft' home industries in modified form may perhaps revive. In tho old days Sheffield- cutlery was produced by small workers living by the side of a, 6tream. Tho conditions of home- labour were not ideal in many respects, but they were human, and permitted individuality and some kind of family life. . , Distributed Power. "Why is distributed power, whether chemical or elcctrioal, so handy? "Because electrio power and gaseous fuel lend themselves to regulation by the turning of a tap—'perfect control' and 'economy' aro'almost svnonymous terms— and when all, tho other improvements which wo oivo to the nineteenth century are incorporated-with-.this great overdue improvement, surely human lifo will begin to emerge from that dull, depressed, and discouraging' condition which now characterises stf much of it. May it nofe be this which is at the root of a good .deal of.the labour discontent? "Indeed, it.is doubtful if-those-workJ era who return from tho varied, adventurous, though dangerous, lifo at th<f front will be content to immerse them* selves in the old unamended factory routine. "It may seem a small thing to have heat, light, and power economically and conveniently laid on to overy dwelling and small factory, but it is a big thing in reality. Tho difference between living in clean, healthy air, through- which tho sun's rays can penetrate-not only tho heat rays, but the health-givingi bronzing, disease-destroying rays fot which wo go to tho seaside—this alone will lmvo an elevating effect on tM spirits of adults and an untold effect on tho health of children. "For children have not had time to get acclimatised to evil surroundings:; they die in largo numbers, and through their deaths tho population is restricted in the saddest and most wasteful manner."