Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Biomass, usually in the form of wood, was humanity's fuel for thousands of years, until the Industrial Revolu-
tion. Although wood is considered a renewable resource, the need for wood grew along with the human popu-
lation, and as the Industrial Revolution put more demands on wood consumption, forests could no longer re-
grow as fast as they were being cut, leading to overall depletion. This depletion meant that humans had to go
farther and farther to reach forests to satisfy their energy needs, but the energy cost of transporting wood from
faraway forests was great compared to the amount of energy derived from the wood. These two factors promp-
ted a switch from wood to coal as the energy source of choice.
At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, coal was abundant and cheap. It has a higher energy yield per
pound than wood. Around 1885, as the Industrial Revolution became widespread not only in the United King-
dom and the United States but also in much of Europe and Japan, the worldwide energy produced by burning
coal exceeded the energy produced by burning wood. In turn, coal was replaced by petroleum in the middle of
the 20th century. Petroleum remains the dominant source of energy worldwide (see U.S. Energy Consumption
Graph below). However, during the latter half of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, coal
and natural gas have seen rapid expansions in use, due in part to the increase in the cost of petroleum and the
decline in petroleum reserves.
Source: Kenneth R. Szulczyk, Ph.D.
The History of Energy Consumption
