Man’s energy problem

THIS week, Sir Harold Hartley [president of the British Association] has extended his survey to an enquiry as to how all the new uses of energy by the world’s growing population can be met. There is, as he says, a limit to the capacity of the human stomach, but none to man’s appetite for energy—for which he finds new uses every day. Sir Harold’s estimate is that 30% of the energy the human race uses today comes from the current revenue of plant and animal growth and water power, and the remainder from capital resources of coal and oil. What of the future? How long will the world’s resources be able to meet our growing demands? Global sufficiency, as he says, is a poor consolation for the countries that have few energy reserves, and the recent State Department Survey shows that half the world’s visible reserves lie in the USA or the USSR and another third in nine other countries. Of the remainder, none can claim as much as 1%.

‘What new means of tapping nature’s stores are likely to emerge? Sir Harold mentioned the possibility of sending electric power over long distances by high-voltage direct current, [so] energy can be transmitted for perhaps a thousand miles by underground cable. We have also neglected the use of the tides. If more courage had been shown in pre-war years [on] schemes like the Severn Barrage, Sir Harold thinks they might today be economical and saving fuel.’ (Leader, September 1, 1950)