A Brief History of Human Energy Use
15
Nonrenewable Energy
A Brief History of Human Energy Use
Core Case Study
Everything runs on energy. Some sources of energy, such as oil, coal, and natural gas—also called fossil fuels—as well as uranium used to fuel nuclear power plants, are nonrenewable because they take millions of years to form in the earth’s crust. Other energy resources such as the sun, wind, flowing water, wood, and heat from the earth’s interior are renewable because they can be replenished by nature within hours or decades.
Human use of energy has grown dramatically throughout history, but especially since European countries began the industrial revolution about 275 years ago. At that time, wood harvested from forests was burned to provide most of the energy used for heating buildings and running steam engines. By 1850, Europeans were harvesting firewood faster than nature could replace it, and thus they depleted many of the forests that surrounded their rapidly industrializing cities.
European nations, and later the United States, survived this early energy crisis by learning how to mine and burn coal in homes and in industrial plants. In 1859, raw petroleum was
pumped out of the ground from the first oil well in Titusville,
Pennsylvania (USA) and later, we invented ways to convert it to fuels such as gasoline and heating oil. We also learned how to burn natural gas, usually found underground over oil deposits.
Then we began burning coal in large, central power plants to produce electricity. In 1885, Carl Benz invented the internal combustion engine that ran on gasoline to power cars and other vehicles. By 1900, we were getting 40% of our total energy use from oil (mostly from gasoline derived from oil), and in the 1950s, we learned how to produce electricity in nuclear power plants.
Today, we continue to live in a fossil fuel era, as most of the energy used in the world and the United States comes from oil, coal, and natural gas resources
Nonrenewable Energy
A Brief History of Human Energy Use
Core Case Study
Everything runs on energy. Some sources of energy, such as oil, coal, and natural gas—also called fossil fuels—as well as uranium used to fuel nuclear power plants, are nonrenewable because they take millions of years to form in the earth’s crust. Other energy resources such as the sun, wind, flowing water, wood, and heat from the earth’s interior are renewable because they can be replenished by nature within hours or decades.
Human use of energy has grown dramatically throughout history, but especially since European countries began the industrial revolution about 275 years ago. At that time, wood harvested from forests was burned to provide most of the energy used for heating buildings and running steam engines. By 1850, Europeans were harvesting firewood faster than nature could replace it, and thus they depleted many of the forests that surrounded their rapidly industrializing cities.
European nations, and later the United States, survived this early energy crisis by learning how to mine and burn coal in homes and in industrial plants. In 1859, raw petroleum was
pumped out of the ground from the first oil well in Titusville,
Pennsylvania (USA) and later, we invented ways to convert it to fuels such as gasoline and heating oil. We also learned how to burn natural gas, usually found underground over oil deposits.
Then we began burning coal in large, central power plants to produce electricity. In 1885, Carl Benz invented the internal combustion engine that ran on gasoline to power cars and other vehicles. By 1900, we were getting 40% of our total energy use from oil (mostly from gasoline derived from oil), and in the 1950s, we learned how to produce electricity in nuclear power plants.
Today, we continue to live in a fossil fuel era, as most of the energy used in the world and the United States comes from oil, coal, and natural gas resources
Links: Net Energy Analysis, 1976; and Howard T. Odum and Elisabeth C McGraw-Hill, 1981) Space Heating