Abstract
THOSE who can look back to the beginning of the century cannot fail to be impressed by the changes which have taken place in connexion with the supply of fuel. The excellent-and what now appears to be cheap-coal was abundant: cost of fuel might appear to be a negligible factor in the production of manufactured products. Advocates of fuel saving or smoke abatement were voices crying in the wilderness: their messages were of no concern to the State and even unwelcome to the fuel industries. Two great wars-especially the last one-have produced the great change, revealed nowhere more clearly than in the development of the Institute of Fuel. On April 17, Dr. E. W. Smith, in his presidential address, said that the Institute, which in 1939 after a modest life of twelve years had gathered about one thousand members, had by 1946 reached in numbers about two thousand six hundred. This is a measure of the growing interest by the technologists themselves. It is a measure of the rising importance of fuel conservation for a long time to come. The Institute is devoting much attention to the spread of better understanding about fuel and its utilisation. Dr. Smith said that this should begin with children, who should be taught early at school the elements of the science of combustion, so that they are already 'fuel conscious'before embarking on the business of life. The Institute of Fuel hopes in the near future to reach the dignity of a chartered body. In addition to the publication of an important technical journal, the Institute has started a scheme to encourage the public education in fuel technology in all branches- from the operative to the research worker. In this, the Institute is in co-operation with the Ministry of Fuel and Power, and, on the examination side, with the City and Guilds Institute. All this activity can be understood if it be remembered that, in future, domestic arrangements must become less primitive and more efficient. Recognition of the essential worth of fuel as a national possession must assert an influence in all walks of life.
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Institute of Fuel. Nature 157, 798 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/157798b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/157798b0