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101
The British Electricity Authority on the other hand claims that
in the lighting, cooking, water heating and space heating fields,
electrical methods are in general more efficient from a fuel utilisation
point of view than the methods they have replaced. Rising standards
of hygiene and comfort in an increasing population have been
obtained without any commensurate increase in the total quantity
of fuel consumed, including the coal equivalent of gas and electricity,
and with a substantial diminution of atmospheric pollution. The
Authority argues that the theoretical advantages of certain types of
modern solid fuel appliances are minimised by such factors as :—
(i) the inability of the average householder to maintain the
theoretical practical efficiency ;
(ii) the tendency to use more efficient apparatus to secure
greater comfort rather than to save fuel;
(iii) the additional materials and labour needed to produce such
appliances ;
(iv) the physical disadvantage of transporting and utilising solid
fuel.
The Gas Council claims that the provision of domestic heat
services by an appropriate combination of gas and coke results in a
smaller demand on coal resources than any alternative method,
and that appropriate heat services can be provided by the medium
of gas with a substantially smaller capital investment than is
required by alternative methods.
These basic arguments are the subject of considerable controversy
among the three bodies mentioned, and show how very difficult
it is to say categorically what is the right pattern for fuel use.
For those of us whose professional interests lie in the field of
atmospheric pollution and its prevention the controversy is academic
rather than practical.
Main Sources of Atmospheric Pollution.
(i) Some 12 million old fashioned domestic open fire grates
burn more than 30 million tons of coal a year and produce
one million tons of smoke. Thus the townsman pays
heavily for smoke, both directly as a coal consumer and as a
citizen living in a dirty atmosphere.
(ii) Smaller industrial boilers and furnaces burning raw coal.
(iii) Steam railway locomotives.
(It is interesting to note the omission of large industrial
boilers and furnaces as smoke producers.)