1

Energy Usage:An Historical Perspective

2

• Energy plays a fundamental role in shaping the human condition

• People's need for energy is essential for survival, so it is not surprising that energy production and consumption are some of the most important activities of human life

• Indeed, it has been argued that energy is the key "to the advance of civilization," that the evolution of human societies is dependent on the conversion of energy for human use

• Few people have questioned the long-held assumption that standard of living and quality of civilization are proportional to the quantity of energy a society uses

• However imprecise it may be, most people still accept the steadfast formula: energy=progress=civilization

3

History of Energy Consumption

• Biological Energy Sources– Initial energy transfer occurs through

photosynthesis.– Very early in history humans began to exploit

additional energy sources to make life more comfortable.

– Human, animal labor– Transportation, cooking, primitive light

4

• Throughout history, humans have focused on controlling the energy stores and flows that are part of nature

• For tens of thousands of years, people relied solely on the chemical (caloric) energy gained from food that produced the mechanical (kinetic) energy of working muscles

• The earliest "energy tools" were those used to hunt animals, harvest edible plants, catch fish and fowl, process and transport foodstuffs, as well as of "fossil” and organic energy sources (wood, peat, coal) ... used ... for heating, cooking, lighting, or for firing the kilns and furnaces used in smelting ores

5

Energy use - Middle ages

• Wind for sailing• Peat, charcoal, coal on ground for fires –

cooking, heat• Water wheels, wind mills for grain grinding• Animal power also• Candles – animal fat & whale oil - light

6

• Before the modern era, people relied for power on their own muscles, on the muscles of domesticated animals, such as horses and oxen, and on water and wind

• People used these energy resources to create a variety of significant landscapes, from agricultural fields and grazing land to mining centers and commercial woodlots, and they built the towns and cities and transportation networks of ancient civilizations

• The technologies that relied on these energy resources are familiar to us all: axes, picks, plows, harnesses, wagons and carriages, waterwheels, windmills, and sailing ships.

7

Increased Use of Wood

• Energy provided by burning wood enabled people to cook food, heat living areas, and develop primitive metallurgy.

• Dense, rapidly growing settlements outstripped wood production, thus new fuel sources had to be utilized.

– 1890, coal replaced wood - primary energy source

8

Fossil Fuels

• Carboniferous period, (286-362 Mya)– large deposits of

plants, animals, and microorganisms.

– Led to the formation of fossil fuel deposits.

9

Industrial Revolution - 1875

• Industrial Revolution - Machines replaced human and animal labor in the manufacture and transportation of goods.– Steam engines converting heat energy into

forward motion was central to this transformation.• Countries or regions without large coal

deposits were consequently left behind.

10

• During the nineteenth century, steam engines improved enormously, and by the 1840s it began competing successfully with water-powered manufacturers, and it soon drove the riverboats and railroads that characterized America's nineteenth century transportation revolution

• The steam engine permanently established the link between fossil energy resources and industrialization

• The scarcity and high cost of good coal combined with discoveries of petroleum in southern California resulted in the development of oil as steam fuel, which unseated coal as steam fuel during the first half of the twentieth century

11

Industrial Revolution

• Prior to the Industrial Revolution, goods were manufactured on a small scale in private homes – master craftsman– Expanding factories = larger labor pools, move

to city– 200 years, energy consumption increased

8X *Increased levels of air pollution.

12

• While coal was being used extensively by the industrial movement, some scientists were already becoming concerned about the exhaust from combustion of fossil fuels, and started developing natural energy sources

• Solar energy was first developed by Mouchout of France in 1860 in which reflectors concentrated solar radiation to boil water and to operate a small steam engine with the steam produced

• Small hydroelectrical power plants were also constructed in the 19th century

• Windmills that up until then were used for pumping water or grinding crops were also developed in an attempt to produce electrical power

• Geothermal energy began to be used to heat up houses and, by the end of the century, to produce electricity.

13

Changes in Energy Sources to 2000

14

15

16

• in 1859, Colonel Edwin Drake managed to drill and extract crude petroleum oil out of the ground in Titusville, Pennsylvania

• It was discovered that several useful products could be produced from petroleum, including kerosene, a gas that was ideal for lighting purposes, and gasoline, a fuel that could be used for locomotive purposes

• With the invention of internal combustion engines mounted on automobiles, petroleum gradually began to dominate coal in the energy industry.

• The Wright brothers invented the first airplane with a gasoline engine, which ushered in an era of faster and cheaper transportation

17

Role of The Automobile

• Convenience of two-car families• Job growth in automobile-related industries• Major role in development of industrialized

nations.• Cars altered people’s lifestyle

- Greater Distance Travel- Sprawling Cities- Suburbs

Growth of automobile industry led to roadway construction; required energy. Better roads - Higher speeds

Higher speeds - Bigger faster cars = Bigger faster cars - Better roads

18

Role of The Automobile in 2000

19

Growth in the Use of Natural Gas

• Initially, natural gas was burned as a waste product at oil wells.– Before 1940, accounted for less than

10% of energy consumption in United States.• By 1970, accounted for about 30% of

energy needs.• In 2003 accounted for 25% of U.S.

consumption.– Primarily used for home heating and

industrial purposes.

20

207243

284309

344366

403454

504555

612

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 20200

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

21

17.3

22.3

28.5

37.4

45.2

2.8 3.7 4.46.6

9.6

4.8 5.0 5.1 5.8 6.5

1980 1990 2000 2010 20200.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0Road Air Other

22

3.1

4.7

8.0

13.1

18.4

0.4 0.6 1.01.9

3.4

1.2 1.5 1.8 2.1 2.4

1980 1990 2000 2010 20200.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0Road Air Other

23

797691686

638626636

587422

287348

190226

1033239

United StatesAustralasia

CanadaJapan

GermanyFrance

United KingdomSouth Korea

Eastern EuropeMexico

FSUBrazil

Middle EastAfrica

China and India

0 200 400 600 800 1000

1996 2020

24

How does the US compare to others in overall energy use through 2002?

25

• Among the technological challenges in using inanimate energy resources is the transmission of power; the production of electricity with electromagnetic induction, the transmission of electricity through copper wires, and the development of electric motors ultimately revolutionized the transmission of power

• machines powered by electric motors could be sited almost anywhere, electric power supplanted horse-drawn and steam-powered street railways with the electric "trolley," it replaced gas for outdoor lighting, and it replaced kerosene lights and wood and coal stoves and heaters in homes

26

• Thomas Edison's direct current (DC) power system became the initial standard for distributed electricity, but it could not be easily transmitted over long distances, which Nicola Tesla's alternating current (AC) power system achieved

• AC power superseded DC power and made possible the development of large electrical generating plants sited long distances from customers

• By the early twentieth century, electricity had become the favored method for transmitting energy and led to the development of the tungsten filament for Edison's incandescent lamp and later the X-ray tube

27

Electrical Energy• Most electrical energy is produced as a

result of burning fossil fuels.• Because electricity is easily transported

and its uses are so varied, electricity is a major world energy source.– Industrialized nations have 20% of the

world’s population, but use 60% of the world’s electricity.• Per capita use in N. America is 25

times greater than that in less-developed countries.

28

World Electrical Energy Use

29

The Nuclear Age• Marie Curie, whose work "on the spontaneous radiation

emitted by uranium compounds" set the stage for subsequent discoveries on atomic structure and the intrinsic power of the atom

• during the 1930s, Enrico Fermi focused on producing artificial radiation by bombarding uranium atoms with neutrons.

• As the world went to war in the 1940s, Fermi and other physicists in Europe and America came to understand that a uranium atom split by a neutron would cause a self-perpetuating chain reaction of atom splitting that would release enormous energy

• Nuclear fission, suggested possible military applications, and Fermi joined with Albert Einstein in the "Manhattan Project which achieved the first controlled nuclear chain reaction

30

• The atomic bomb was used twice against Japan in 1945

• In the wake of World War II, the United States created an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to oversee nuclear weapons development as well as to bring nuclear power to peaceful applications

• industrialized nations everywhere constructed nuclear power plants to meet ever-multiplying demands for electric power

• The 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident in Pennsylvania empowered nuclear power opponents and, combined with the unresolved solution to the disposal of radioactive nuclear waste effectively ended new nuclear power plant construction in the United States

• In 1986 the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine and subsequent widespread radiation poisoning, put Italy, Germany, and other countries on the path toward ending reliance on nuclear power

31

The Economics and Politics of Energy Use

• A correlation exists between energy and productivity.– Most industrial societies want to

ensure a continuous supply of affordable energy.

– The higher the price of energy, the more expensive goods and services become.

– Subsidies help keep energy costs down.

32

33

Fuel Economy and Government Policy

• Price of gasoline determined by two factors:– Purchasing and processing crude oil.– Taxes

• Taxes in the U.S. represent less than 30% of retail gasoline price.

• 40% in Canada• 50-75% in Japan and Europe

• Governments often charge road users to help build and repair roads by taxing fuel.– Can also discourage use via increases.– U.S. only raises 60% of monies needed for roads

from fuel taxes.• This tends to keep fuel costs low

– Encourages consumption

34

35

Political and Economic Factors• During the 1980’s, energy costs in North

America and Europe declined– less concern about energy consumption– 1979 - oil ~ $40 / barrel– 1998 - oil ~ $15 / barrel

• Factors determining energy use– Political Stability– Price of Oil– Others?

• The Importance of OPEC (Oil Producing and Exporting Countries)- Twelve members– Control over 78% of world’s estimated oil

reserves.– 1,000 billion barrels

36

Sources of US oil in 2003

37

Energy Consumption in 2003

• Over half of world energy consumption is by the 25 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).– Available Energy Sources

• Oil 38%• Natural Gas 26%• Coal 24%

38

Changes in World Energy Consumption

39

Energy Consumption Trends

• Energy consumption behavior of most people is motivated by economics rather than a desire to wisely use energy resources.

• Over the past several years, world oil prices have been extremely volatile.– Oversupply– OPEC Actions– Persian Gulf War– Iraq War

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eabmsuEZPsk