Human Energy Sources

As discussed heavily in class, better energy sources allowed societies to develop and sustain larger populations. In this section, I hope to investigate the energy sources of human societies.

Throughout history, humans have sought to produce the highest efficiency, generating the largest amount of energy with the least amount of human effort. As humans progressed, their sources of energy evolved, from wood to whales to fossil fuels to renewable fuels. This is interesting because human population growth has gone from steady growth for thousands of years to exponential growth after the industrial revolution. 

Pre-industrial societies depended primarily on muscle power and biomass for their energy needs. Biomass consisted primarily of wood. In most areas, wood is the most easily accessible form of fuel, as little industrial or specialized tools are required. Since the Holocene Epoch, humans used wood as fuel source for heating. Furthermore, the humans’ mastery of fire equipped humans with powerful tool unavailable to other species. As a result, humans used fire to ward off dangerous animals while hunting protein-rich food. In the human history, deforestation has a long history. From 3000 BCE, the forests of ancient Near East were cut for the construction of temples and palaces in the kingdoms and empires in the Fertile Crescent. By 2000 BCE, the forests of the Middle East were largely depleted, thus shifting trade and power in the Mediterranean region to Crete and the Greek world because of their timber abundance. At this time, the wood was used for fuel in copper furnaces for producing bronze, the primary export of Crete. After 600 years, the Greeks exhausted the timber on Crete, so trading power shifting to Greece, Macedonia, and Asia.  By the 13^th century, Europe exploited wood for construction of large ships, as trade and commerce expanded mostly by sea. As a result, it was important for European powers to make seaworthy vessels to continue their growth. Towards the end of the 15^th century, there were signs of timber shortage, as Venice began important complete ship hulls from Northern Europe. The exploitation of wood continued for hundreds of years, until the discovery of better fuels.  

The inventions and discoveries of the Industrial Revolution propelled the quest for more powerful energy sources. As more sophisticated mechanical inventions were invented, the need for inexhaustible sources of energy became necessary for industrial uses and transportation.

In the United States during the 19^th century, nearly 2 billion hectares of forest land was cut. The young nation was built on this wood, as cities, railroads, newspapers, insulation, and power were constructed. In addition, large shipping vessels were also constructed, many involved in the whaling industry. In 1851, the United States whaling industry employed over 15,000 sea men and 35,000 on shore to support the endeavor. A single sperm whale could yield 1,900 gallons of oil, equivalent to 63 barrels. Sperm whale were exploited for their oil, which was used for machinery lubrication, Ambergris for perfume, and baleen for umbrellas and bustles. Out of the 700 whaling ships worldwide, over 500 sailed from New England; specifically 429 were registered in New Bedford, one of the richest cities in the world during the time. However, after the peak of the industry in 1851, the whaling industry began declining. First, the US Civil War in 1860 resulted in the US navy commandeering and sinking 40 whaling ships in the blockade of the Confederate Savannah and Charleston harbors. By 1865, only 50% of the fleet remained. In 1871, much of the Artic whaling fleet was crushed in the ice due to hunters traveling far north due to the scarcity of whales. As a result, the year was of financial ruin. By 1875, the United States whaling industry was gone due to diminishing whale population and economics of the industry. In 1971, the United States suspended all commercial whaling.

During the same time as the decline of the whaling industry, the industrial revolution brought other energy sources to the consumer.  In 1859, petroleum was drilled, which was a plentiful energy source that began to replace coal. Oil was distilled into kerosene and used as a lamp oil. As a result, kerosene replaced the dwindling supplies of whale oil used for lamps. Oil became a more desirable fuel source than coal for various reasons. First, coal was an unreliable fuel source due to the labor issues surrounding the mining of coal. Miners lobbied for safer working environments and better wages, which affected the amount of coal available to the consumer. Second, oil emitted less particulate pollution than coal. Finally, it was easier energy source to obtain and transport. Furthermore, in 1861, oil was the liquid fuel for the internal combustion, one of the most influential inventions of the Industrial Revolution, as it allowed moving large metal vehicles over large distances. The fuel of the internal combustion engine was easier to use than shoveling coal into a furnace to power a locomotive.

In the 1920s, American companies pumped accessible oil. However, even as prices dropped, the oil industry suffered because demand could not keep up with supply, causing frequent boom-bust cycles. Oil became an important asset for World War II. With South East Asian oil in contention, the oil shortages were factor in Japan’s attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor. By 1970, the United States oil production peaked, with over 9 million barrels of oil produced every day. In 1971, the United States suspended all commercial whaling.

Today, oil is equated to money and power. There are massive investments in the history of oil production worldwide. As a result, there are wide array of political impacts from this fuel. Oil is necessary for every nation, while production is dominated only by handful of countries. In addition, there are large climate and ecological changes occurring as a consequence of exploiting these fossil fuels. Finally, the cost of oil has been steadily increasing over the last few decades, due to increased demand from countries such as India, China, and Brazil. As a result, within the last 30 years, there’s been greater demand for renewable sources of energy, through solar, wind, nuclear, geothermal power. These renewable sources of energy have potential to shift the economies of the world to a much cleaner fuel source. However, even to this day, oil remains the primary fuel source of the world. 

Literature Cited

·         Smil, Vaclav. Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization. The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1999.

Nye, David E. Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies. The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1999.

·         The Deforestation of Mount Lebanon Author(s): Marvin W. Mikesell Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 59, No. 1 (Jan., 1969), pp. 1-28

·         Foster DR, Motzkin G, Slater B. 1998. Land-use history as long-term broad-scale disturbance: Regional forest dynamics in central New England. Ecosystems 1: 96-119.

·         K.J.W. Oosthoek. Undated. The Role of Wood in World History http://www.eh-resources.org/wood.html

·         Aguilar, A. 1986. A Review of Old Basque Whaling and its Effect on the Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis) of the North Atlantic. Rep. Int. Whal. Commn. (special issue) 10: 191-199.

·         Vickers, D. 1983. The First Whalemen of Nantucket. The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Oct., 1983), pp. 560-583.

·         Baker, S and Clapham, P. J. 2004. Modelling the past and future of whales and whaling. TREE 19: 365-371.Smith, T. D et al. 2012. Spatial and Seasonal Distribution of American

·         Whaling and Whales in the Age of Sail. PLoS1. April 2012. Issue 4.