4. Purchasing and storage of coal by consumers during the spring and summer months in anticipation of the winter requirements, in order to equalize the present highly fluctuating seasonal demands on the mines and railroads, and to eliminate the recurring shortages of coal in the winter months. This was particularly recommended by the United States Bituminous Coal Commission in a recent report.[57]
5. Where conditions allow it, conversion of coal into power at the mine and delivery of power rather than coal to consuming centers. This type of conservation is being put into practice on a large scale above Wheeling, on the Ohio River, where there has recently been built a two hundred thousand kilowatt installation for steam-generated electric power. Some of the power will be delivered to Canton, Ohio, over fifty miles away. This plant uses local coal and the cost of coal is figured at two mills per kilowatt-hour.
Under this heading of distribution and transportation of coal, might be considered certain international relations. The international movements of coal are summarized in another place (pp. 115-117). Anything in the way of tariffs or trade agreements which would tend to interfere with or to limit the great natural international movements of coal—which in a free field are based on suitability of grade, cost, location, transportation, etc.—would be anti-conservational from the world's standpoint, although they might be of local and temporary advantage. For instance, the coal exported from England, which has heretofore dominated the international trade of the world, is of a high grade. American coal available for export is on the whole of considerably lower grade, being higher in volatile matter. Unless this coal is beneficiated at home, it can replace the English coal in the export field only at increased cost of transportation and lower efficiency in use. The time may come when it will be desirable to ship lower-grade coals long distances; but when the two factors of conservation are considered—the intrinsic qualities of the coal, and the efforts necessary to utilize it—it would seem to be conservational at this stage to ship to long distances only the coal which nature seems specially to have prepared for this purpose.
(E) Utilization of coal. Conservational proposals of this kind are:
1. Substitution of retort coke-ovens for beehive ovens, to save not only a larger quantity of coke but also valuable by-products (see pp. 118-119). Additional improvements in coking ovens may make possible the manufacture of some sort of coke from a much wider range of bituminous coals than can be used at present.
2. Larger use of smoke consumers and mechanical stokers.
3. Larger use of central heating plants, with higher efficiency than many local plants.
4. Substitution of gas engines for steam engines, and improvement of the steam engine.
5. Improvement in methods of smelting, leading to larger output of metal per ton of coke used. Also the development of electric smelting for certain metals.
6. More careful study and classification of the qualities of coals, in order to avoid use of higher-grade coals where inferior coals would serve the purpose.