Epilogue as written by Arthur Ridding
Ferranti's inaugural address as President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1910, in which he declared his faith in the future of electrical progress, was said to have 'marked an epoch, not only in his own life, but in the history of electrical supply'.
Announcing as his theme : 'Coal Conservation, Home Grown Food, and the Better Utilisation of Our Labour', he pointed out that 90 per cent of the value of our coal was wasted in converting it to its various uses; that much needless work was spent in cleaning up the dirt produced by inefficient methods of using coal; and that the greatest loss of all was in its transformation into heat and power.
He said: '. . .
it is fundamental that the energy in the coal should be converted at as few centres as possible into a form in which it is most generally applicable to all purposes without exception, and in which it is most easily applied to all our wants, and is, at the same time, in a form in which it is most difficult to waste or use improperly. We are therefore forced to the conclusion that the only complete and final solution of the question is to be obtained by the conversion of the whole of the coal which we use for heat and power into electricity, and the recovery of its by-products at a comparatively small number of great electricity producing stations. All our wants in the way of light, power, heat, and chemical action would then be met by a supply of electricity distributed all over the country.'
Following his own strong beliefs he campaigned widely and unceasingly for many years for the extended use of electricity in all fields and foresaw, perhaps more than anyone else, the potentialities of electricity for domestic purposes.
This was one of the important points of his last public address `Electricity in the Service of Man', the fourth Faraday Lecture which, as Past-President, he delivered before the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1928. He said
'. . . it will be seen that the uses of electricity fall naturally under three heads:
those in which electricity has no competitor;
those in which electricity has attained supremacy over its competitors;
and those in which competition has still to be met and fought ...
and I would here state my firm belief that whenever a service can be performed electrically it is better done in that way than by any other means....
Today we are all trying to work less and to get more, to expend less energy or to take less trouble; to do things more easily. Well, the really attractive feature of electricity is that it makes these ideas possible.'
Ferranti's inaugural address as President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1910, in which he declared his faith in the future of electrical progress, was said to have 'marked an epoch, not only in his own life, but in the history of electrical supply'.
Announcing as his theme : 'Coal Conservation, Home Grown Food, and the Better Utilisation of Our Labour', he pointed out that 90 per cent of the value of our coal was wasted in converting it to its various uses; that much needless work was spent in cleaning up the dirt produced by inefficient methods of using coal; and that the greatest loss of all was in its transformation into heat and power.
He said: '. . .
it is fundamental that the energy in the coal should be converted at as few centres as possible into a form in which it is most generally applicable to all purposes without exception, and in which it is most easily applied to all our wants, and is, at the same time, in a form in which it is most difficult to waste or use improperly. We are therefore forced to the conclusion that the only complete and final solution of the question is to be obtained by the conversion of the whole of the coal which we use for heat and power into electricity, and the recovery of its by-products at a comparatively small number of great electricity producing stations. All our wants in the way of light, power, heat, and chemical action would then be met by a supply of electricity distributed all over the country.'
Following his own strong beliefs he campaigned widely and unceasingly for many years for the extended use of electricity in all fields and foresaw, perhaps more than anyone else, the potentialities of electricity for domestic purposes.
This was one of the important points of his last public address `Electricity in the Service of Man', the fourth Faraday Lecture which, as Past-President, he delivered before the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1928. He said
'. . . it will be seen that the uses of electricity fall naturally under three heads:
those in which electricity has no competitor;
those in which electricity has attained supremacy over its competitors;
and those in which competition has still to be met and fought ...
and I would here state my firm belief that whenever a service can be performed electrically it is better done in that way than by any other means....
Today we are all trying to work less and to get more, to expend less energy or to take less trouble; to do things more easily. Well, the really attractive feature of electricity is that it makes these ideas possible.'