Any thoughts
quentin skrabec
Obscura and Trivia 6
The Mystery of Electrical Power Generation in Verne's Future Green Paris
By Quentin R. Skrabec Ph.D.
Verne’s future vision of a green Paris in 1960 was based on the known science at the time of his writing in 1863. Verne’s realistic predictions depended on his ability to put known scientific principles into engineering designs and then upscale from the laboratory to mass application. Verne’s power grid for his green Paris had these sources.
1. Compressed air produced from windmills to drive trains, factory machines, and river cantilever river bridges (p.135)
2. Electricity for street lighting, commercial applications, billboards, music, and communications, as well as home electricity for small appliances.
3. Hydrogen gas from electric power electrolysis to fuel cars and boats.
4. A combination of compressed air and hydrogen burning to heat homes.
5. Hydraulic systems and possibly hydroelectric power from river dams
Other than compressed air, electric power generation was the primary energy for Verne’s futuristic Paris and probably would have accounted for 70 percent of the power grid. So, how did Verne generate it? Chemical, electromagnetic/mechanical power generation? Verne clearly believed electricity would be available to power green Paris in 1960. He doesn’t directly address the mass electricity generation, but there are clues. Verne had consistently utilized the work and speculation of Humphrey Davy (1778-1829) and his lab assistant Micheal Faraday (1791- 1867) in his futuristic engineering. Virtually all electric power today is produced using Faraday's principles, no matter whether the prime source of energy is coal, oil, gas, chemical, nuclear, hydro, or wind.
Battery-generated electricity was the source in Verne’s world in 1863, and Verne’s green Paris did still use some battery power for things like musical instruments (p. 209); however, he was aware battery power could not light a city, light billboards, and provide electrolysis for massive hydrogen production. Humphery Davy had established the battery power cost, noting it in his arc lighting experiments. Davy used electricity to create arc lighting in the 1820s, but 2000 galvanic battery cells were required at six dollars per minute (about 200 dollars a minute today) to power one arc light.[1] In 1848, two experimental arc streetlights in Paris were tried but short-lived because of battery cost.[2] Verne’s green Paris had 200,000 streetlights (p. 24), and battery electricity would be cost-prohibitive. By the early 1850s, a theoretical bias was established to generate electricity by cheaper mechanical magneto-electric generators (dynamos), and Verne quickly realized it.
An arc lighthouse was built in 1862 in England, and a year later, a Faraday/ Siemens (also Serrin system) dynamo was used in France. The system was part of the Way Method (after John Thomas Way), which Verne noted in Paris in the Twentieth Century. The problem was, however, a hand crank was used. [3] Even green Paris’s colossal lighthouse, which was 152 meters high and could be seen for forty leagues (p. 136), could hardly be hand-cranked! That’s where technology stood in 1863, and it wasn’t until the 1880s that large amounts of mechanical dynamo electrical generation could light a city block. Still, in 1863, Verne had a small-scale theoretical basis. However, Verne needed to upscale the mechanical dynamo with a more efficient and sustainable power source to drive the shaft of this hand-cranked dynamo. Verne’s green Paris did have several potential power sources to drive a dynamo's shaft, such as wind, coal, gas, chemical, and hydrogen.
He could have used a coal-fired steam engine to drive a dynamo, which would be commercially developed a few decades later (1880s). However, Verne indicated the limited use of coal in his green Paris. Verne even suggested the replacement engine for steam in green Paris. This carbonic acid engine (p. 12) was experimented on during Verne’s writing by Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, of Great Eastern fame.
Another possible Verne solution could have been compressed air from windmills to power magneto-electric. Verne’s green Paris had a wind farm of 1838 windmills available. However, Verne’s stated use of compressed in green Paris was to make compressed air used trains and factory machines not for electric generations.
Hydropower was another option. Verne’s green Paris had a major dam, with water turbines on the Seine River, that could produce 2000 horsepower (p.204). Verne does not directly note hydroelectric generation, but Faraday had speculated and experimented about converting water power into electrical energy in the 1850s. By the 1880s, water turbines were being used to generate electricity. Verne’s green Paris did have hydro-powered turbines available (p 204), and Westinghouse would use water turbines to make hydroelectric power available in 1879.
Verne never directly indicated his electricity generation, yet he believed the future would be electric! He prophesied the future sources that would be used, such as hydroelectric, wind, and clean fuels that could have been used. Verne’s literary series Voyages Extraordinaire would continue to augur the future of green power.
james
quentin skrabec
Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2024 3:02 PM
To: Jules Verne Forum <jules-ve...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [JVF] Re: Any thoughts
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wbutch...@gmail.com
The french edition of p20, done by scholar p gondola della riva, is accurate.
The sole English translation contains some mistakes, but is otherwise acceptable.
bill
From: jules-ve...@googlegroups.com <jules-ve...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of james
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2024 4:02 AM
To: Jules Verne Forum <jules-ve...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [JVF] Re: Any thoughts
I believe we are talking about Paris in the Twentieth Century. Are you reading from a French edition or English translation?
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quentin skrabec
Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2024 6:08 PM
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Subject: RE: [JVF] Re: Any thoughts
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wbutch...@gmail.com
Glad to help. Further info on https://www.ibiblio.org/julesverne/articles/parisrandom.pdf, ParisCh1.pdf (ibiblio.org) and https://www.ibiblio.org/julesverne/articles/ParisCh2.pdf.
bill
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quentin skrabec
wbutch...@gmail.com
Our article may have been a bit harsh on Richard Howard but we were annoyed about the mistakes. Glad it was useful.
Machine translation is very powerful these days, esp Deepl.
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