But the greatest conservation of coal possible at present lies in the use of the water-power which now goes to waste, and which, if employed, would, as we have seen, give us 30,000,000 horse-power, or more than all that is now produced from fuel by all our engines combined.
Alabama offers a striking ill.u.s.tration of this failure to take advantage of our opportunities, for Alabama has both coal and water-power.
Engineers estimate that the three princ.i.p.al rivers have power equal to 436,000 horse-power. At Muscle Shoals, on the Tennessee River, there is now developed 188,000 horse-power, second only to Niagara--and if the waters were conserved, the figures would reach 1,084,000 horse-power on the three rivers. This means that, according to the amount of coal required to produce each horse-power of energy, it would require 11,201,000 tons of coal each year to produce by steam as much power as these streams might easily be made to produce.
Alabama, as we have said, is also a great coal state. It is now mining about 14,000,000 tons per year and only four states produce a larger amount. It will be seen that four tons out of five mined in this state will be needed to produce by steam the power that is going to waste in its rivers. The Honorable W. P. Lay, of the Alabama Conservation Commission, in calling attention to this fact, says:
"Suppose for a moment that the coal fields of Alabama were sliding down an incline and pouring off over a precipice at the rate of 11,201,000 tons per year, how long would it take the people of the United States to do something to try to stop such a waste? Yet what else are we doing when we sit idly by and let the water of these streams go to waste over a precipice while we ourselves burn up the coal?"
And what is true in Alabama is true to a lesser extent in most of the states. Wherever water-power is going to waste, coal is being used to take its place, and that coal is needed in some place where there is no water-power.
On a certain stream in one of the central states was a fine waterfall.
The early settlers built a mill there. The water turned the mill-wheel and then pa.s.sed on to water the valley and turn other mill-wheels. But one night the old mill was destroyed by fire. It was not rebuilt, but some distance from the stream a new steam mill was built, the motive power of which was natural gas. When, after a few years, the natural gas was all gone, the miller began to use coal, and he still uses coal--hundreds of tons of it--while the water which once turned the wheels, runs idly over the falls. This is an example of wholly useless waste of coal, and just such waste is to be found in hundreds of places in our country.
If wise mining methods be put into operation, if proper care be taken in its use, particularly in manufacturing, if the low-grade coals be utilized, and if other power be subst.i.tuted wherever practicable, there need be no question of shortage. There is enough coal in the ground, if used rightly, to last for ages to come. But because we have wasted vast quant.i.ties of it in the past, and are still wasting it, so that if the same conditions continue we can distinctly see the end in sight, it is important that every one understands what these conditions of use and waste are, and how the abuse may be corrected, so that mine owners and consumers may all work together to preserve this most necessary resource.
REFERENCES
Coal is King. Hewette.
Economical Burning of Coal Without Smoke. Bement.
Coal and Coal Mines. H. Green.
International Library of Technology. Vols. 37 and 38.
Reports of Geological Survey.
Report National Conservation Commission.
Conservation of Mineral Resources. (U. S. Report.)
Production of Coals in the U. S. in 1908. Advance chapters available.
CHAPTER VI
OTHER FUELS
WOOD
Wood, which was formerly the only fuel used in this country, has now largely given place to other fuels. In rural districts and in lumber regions it is still used extensively; but in the cities, larger towns, and manufacturing regions, it is not used in commercial quant.i.ties. Its use for power production is limited to the wood-working factories which have a large amount of waste lumber and which employ this by-product to furnish heat for steam boilers.
The wood used for fuel or for power usually represents what would otherwise be lost, the dead trees and the unmarketable timber of the farmer"s wood-lot, the refuse of lumber regions or the waste of wood-working factories. So that the use of wood as fuel now generally means the conservation of our coal supply, and a use for the low-grade parts of the forest.
In some cases, however, farmers cut for fuel fine young trees that would grow into excellent timber. Liberal planting of trees so that wood shall become plentiful in all parts of the country will tend to bring about again a larger use of wood as fuel, which will thus once more become a factor in the saving of our coal. Every farmer should learn to save all valuable trees for lumber, and to use only undesirable ones for fuel.
PEAT
Peat is said by geologists to be only "coal in the making," carbon that is in the state of changing from vegetable matter to coal. It is probable that in the course of centuries this would become coal, and in its present state it has many of the properties of coal, though it has not nearly so high a heating value.
In this country we have had such a wealth of fuel resources--coal, wood, oil, and gas--that up to the present time we have done little to develop our peat beds, although in European countries ten million tons are used annually for fuel, as well as large quant.i.ties for other purposes. From the earliest times peat has been the princ.i.p.al fuel of the common people of Ireland and some of the countries of northern Europe.
Now, however, people are trying to make the best of many resources not heretofore developed, coal prices are steadily advancing and the two causes combine to turn people"s attention to the peat beds of America.
One point that is worthy of notice is that peat is found mostly in regions where there is no coal, oil, or natural gas. The development of peat beds in those regions, it will be seen, would give them a great advantage in the matter of cheap fuel.
Large peat beds are found in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, New England, New Jersey, Florida, the Dakotas, northern Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, eastern Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia; and near the coast in the gulf states, and a narrow strip along the Pacific coast, from southern California to the Canadian border. They cover an area of about 11,000 square miles and are supposed to contain not less than 14,000,000,000 tons of air-dried peat. At the rate of three dollars per ton, which is a reasonable price in the states having no coal, this peat would have a value of more than $40,000,000,000.
Peat is prepared for use as common fuel in two ways: (1) By cutting it into blocks or bricks, which are air-dried by exposure to sun and wind for a few weeks. This is called "cut peat," is bulky and easily breakable, and can be used only for local consumption. (2) By digging either by hand or machine, and grinding it in a mill. It is put in wet, ground, cut with rapidly turning knives, and pa.s.sed out of the machine as a thick pulp that is cut into bricks as it comes out. It is then stored several weeks until thoroughly dried. This is called "machine peat," "pressed peat," or "condensed peat."
Peat is being used in many ways. (1) Air-dried peat is used for fuel only. (2) Dry peat without a binder, or mixed with coal dust and tar or pitch is used for the same purpose. (3) Machine peat is used for many purposes, among them making into briquettes, peat charcoal, and peat c.o.ke.
It has been found practical to make illuminating gas of peat, but a far more general use is for running gas-engines and producer-gas furnaces.
This is a practical use for it, since it will conserve the coal now used for that purpose, furnish satisfactory power without smoke or dirt, provide cheap power in regions that have no coal mines, and lastly may be made to yield valuable by-products: ammonia, acetic acid, paraffin, tar, creosote, and wood-alcohol. If all the peat in the United States could be used in producer-gas engines the ammonia yielded would alone have a value of $36,000,000,000.
Peat is also used for packing material, as a fertilizer, for manufacturing paper, for coa.r.s.e cloth and mattress filling. By mixing wet machine peat with cement it may be made into blocks for paving and other construction work. The most promising uses are for fuel, as bedding for stock, as a disinfectant, in briquettes for burning lime, brick, and pottery, in which it is finding a large use, and for which it is said to be particularly well fitted; and most satisfactory of all, its use in gas-producer engines. In Florida an immense plant is being built to manufacture electric power, using air-dried peat as fuel, the power to be transmitted to Jacksonville.
Machine peat is supposed to have sixty-five per cent. the value of the same weight of Pocahontas coal, but on account of the lack of waste in peat its real value is higher than would appear from the comparison.
From two to two and a half pounds will produce one horse-power per hour in gas-producer engines. By this estimate, we can see that the peat beds of this country, if properly used, may be largely employed, either now or in the future, as a subst.i.tute for the vanishing coal.
NATURAL GAS
Of all the fuels, natural gas may be said to be the ideal one. Coming from the ground, it is piped a greater or less distance and distributed to the home or factory for light, heat, or power; for all of which it is equally desirable. It is ready for our use at the turn of a key, is absolutely clean, having neither dust, ash, nor unconsumed portions. It requires no kindling other than a lighted match.
Natural gas is found over an area which, if combined, would cover almost 10,000 square miles. It exists in twenty-two states--Alabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New York, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming. In some of them the area has been large and the production very heavy, in others the field is small and unproductive. Until the last two or three years there have been no statistics as to the quant.i.ty of gas piped, but an account of its value has been kept for many years. For the twenty years beginning with 1888 the value is given at nearly $500,000,000.
It must be remembered that much of this represents extremely low prices, only the amount actually paid for its use. When gas is newly discovered in a region it is not considered an opportunity for the residents of the community to have cheap light, power and fuel for themselves, but instead as an opportunity to develop the country, to increase the population and attract new factories. In order to advertise and boom their communities free gas is usually offered to factories. So in dozens of instances large factories have been operated for years without a cent having been paid for fuel. For this reason no proper estimate can be made of the quant.i.ty of gas consumed, nor of its value even at a nominal price. In 1907, (the last year for which complete returns have been published in government reports) the amount of gas consumed was given at 404,000,000 cubic feet, which at present prices is valued at $63,000,000.
It is impossible to determine in any way the future production of natural gas, or to guess at the quant.i.ty remaining in the earth. It may be much less or much more than present conditions would indicate; but the present known fields are limited, and the pressure is growing steadily less in all of them.
The Conservation Commission reports, "It is safe to predict that the known fields will be exhausted in twenty-five years." The decrease of natural gas is strikingly ill.u.s.trated in Indiana. This state, perhaps more than any other, profited directly by the discovery of its natural gas about twenty years ago. Here, the mineral maps show, is by far the greatest natural gas region in the United States. With the discovery of natural gas, established towns grew to ten times their former size and new ones sprang up everywhere. Indiana, which had been chiefly an agricultural state, bade fair to become one of the foremost manufacturing states on account of its cheap and abundant fuel. In 1902 Indiana produced nearly $8,000,000 worth of natural gas, but for 1908 the State Geologist"s report contained no figures for this product. It had ceased to be a prominent factor in the wealth of the state! There is no resource that has been so shamefully, so hopelessly wasted as our natural gas.
With even more recklessness than characterizes the waste of our forests and our coal, we have allowed this perfect fuel to escape. To the dwellers in each region where natural gas is found, it seems that the supply is inexhaustible. The roar of the wells, which makes the very earth tremble; the flames springing high into the air; the undiminished pressure after months of use, appearing to indicate a boundless reservoir below; the opportunity for whole communities to grow rich by its use; all these things tend to promote recklessness on the part of all who handle it. In the beginning the wells are usually not tightly cased, and there is a considerable quant.i.ty of gas escaping about every well. New wells are frequently lighted to show the volume of gas. In some cases the well has become uncapped on account of heavy pressure and to prevent the escape of unconsumed gas into the air it is kept burning night and day. The strongest wells are often kept burning for months in order to advertise a new gas field. In this way immense quant.i.ties of the most perfect fuel in the world have been wantonly wasted. From a single well in eastern Kentucky there flowed a steady stream of gas for twenty years which at present prices would be worth $3,000,000, and the same story of waste from burning wells comes from every natural gas field.
In a new region where gas is abundant there is also a great waste from leaking pipe lines laid on the surface of the ground, from open flambeaux, and from careless home and factory consumption. In many communities the open flambeaux have been employed to light the streets, and allowed to burn day and night to avoid the expense of a man to care for them. Where natural gas is abundant, meters are not usually installed; instead, gas is sold by the month. The consumer is under no obligation to save the gas, in fact, he usually acts on the common American principle of wanting to get all he can for the money and so burns his open tip lights, and open burner stoves day and night. The factories waste in the same way, using open furnaces which are never banked during the season because it is easier and costs no more.
This, it seems, should be the whole history of natural gas waste, but the greatest source of loss still remains to be spoken of. In every gas region of any importance oil is found sooner or later, usually after the heaviest gas pressure has been exhausted; and the oil driller is the greatest of all foes to the life of a natural gas region. He finds that the gas interferes with the flow of oil, spraying it into the air and causing loss, and that the danger of fire is much increased by its presence. This frequently causes explosions, tearing out the side of the well or blowing out the casing, and making the oil-well useless. The surplus gas is usually piped to one side out of the reach of danger, and then burned to get rid of it. Drillers often try to force the gas out in the hope that it will be followed by a rush of oil.
This is the heaviest drain on the gas. In the Caddo field in Louisiana alone the loss is seventy million cubic feet per day, enough to light ten cities the size of Washington, D. C., and equal to ten thousand barrels of petroleum per day. In Indiana a few years ago fourteen wells, all within a s.p.a.ce of a few acres in extent, were burned by oil drillers continuously for six months, the light being visible twenty miles away.
Greater care in the management of the wells and slight additional expense for casing are all that is required to stop the waste of gas from oil wells and heavy pressure gas wells.
All of these wastes taken together const.i.tute a fearful loss. In 1907, more than 400,000,000 cubic feet were used and an almost equal number wasted. In other words, the daily waste is over a billion cubic feet, or enough to supply every city in the United States of over one hundred thousand population.