The OIES review of energy costs

Working paper

Those who either from want of knowledge or from interested motives advocate the universal adoption of oil fuel in place of coal generally claim that it would be quite possible to supply oil of the necessary quality at 30s or 35s a ton, and that oil as a fuel is worth twice as much as coal, so that there would be an economy n cost as well as the enormous conveniences of liquid fuel for power production. Such an idea is a mass of fallacies; the fuel oil supply is totally inadequate; there is no guarantee of a continuous supply; the price of fuel oil is now £3 a ton and over, and its value as a fuel only one and a half times that of coal; and as the general adoption of liquid fuel must be a commercial question, it is not likely that keen businessmen will look at oil as a general fuel as long as this country can produce coal at anything like the present price. (Professor Vivian B. Lewis FIC, FCS in ”Oil Fuel” 1913).

Authors: Barnes, P

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Reviewed (other)
• Publisher: Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
• Series: OIES paper
• Publication date: 1991-01-01
• Edition: Publisher's version
• Paper number: OIES review series
• ISBN: 0948061545
• Language: English
• Keywords: environment; synfuels; comparative energy costs; technical costs; power generation; OIES; price estimates