World Power Conference : 1950 Meeting in London

Abstract

As already announced (see Nature, June 26, p. 1,005), the Fourth World Power Conference will be held in the building of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, during July 10–15, 1950, and the theme of the Conference will be "World Energy Resources and the Production of Power". Sir Harold Hartley will be chairman of the Conference. The technical programme of the Conference has just been published, and copies may be obtained on application to the General Secretary, Fourth World Power Conference, 201–2 Grand Buildings, Trafalgar Square, London, W.C.2. It will be seen that the programme falls into three divisions. Division 1 will contain single reports, from each national committee, to include : (a) a survey of the energy resources of the country ; (b) a historical record of the development of the resources of the country and of prime movers for utilizing them, covering the period since the First World Power Conference in 1924. Division 2 will consist of individual papers, dealing comprehensively with the preparation of fuel of every kind. Division 3, which is perhaps the most important, is headed "Production of Power". In addition to the traditional sources of power, papers will be included on gas turbines, jet engines, hot-air engines, tidal power, wind power, solar energy, terrestrial heat, thermal energy derived from the sea, and atomic energy. It is hoped that, despite the manifold difficulties surrounding the preparation of papers on atomic energy, some valuable contributions will be forthcoming. Although the technical programme does not contain a separate division on utilization, the hope is expressed that papers will be presented dealing with the design and relative advantages of different types of prime movers for specific purposes, for example, aviation, land transport and marine propulsion. Unesco has recently made a grant towards the statistical work carried out by the World Power Conference.