Abstract
ACCORDING to the Electrical Review of September 1, Mr. M. Anderson, the director of the Coal Utilisation Council, estimated that to keep the public properly warm would necessitate the consumption of eight million more tons of coal per annum. To raise the standard of ‘heat comfort’ was one of the principal aims of the plan of campaign outlined at the last National Coal Convention. Since the success of the campaign would depend largely upon the development of the domestic and industrial demand for electric power and especially that used for ‘space heating’, convenience rather than necessity would be the controlling influence in regulating the demand for coal for power. Mr. Anderson referred to several other methods of increasing the coal output to compensate for the falling off in the direct demand for coal owing to the increasing use of electric power and heating in many trades. Trolley buses, also, although they have greatly diminished the demand for electric tramways and in spite of the competition of oil-engine buses, have probably increased the total demand for electric power from the public mains and consequently for coal. Trolley-buses move faster and give a much better service than almost any other vehicles. In many ways the interests of coal and its derivative electricity appear to be much the same. The demand by electric power stations on the collieries for ‘slacks’, ‘duff’ and rough ‘smalls’ now exceeds the supply, although coal-breaking and crushing plant has been installed at a number of collieries. This would naturally add to the cost of production.
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Coal Utilization by Electricity. Nature 144, 505–506 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144505c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144505c0