Energy Transitions

Abstract

The way energy is extracted, transported, used, and disposed of, is changing right before our eyes, again. Many say we are witnessing a major energy transition to renewable energy, or maybe several energy transitions at the same time. It is not the first time. Energy transitions recur throughout human civilization. For much of human history, energy access, resource development, and the accompanying technological changes increased quality of life, albeit some more than others, for most of the human population. Putting biomass energy to use led to sedentary human communities, agriculture, metallurgy, and so on; it powered most of human history. By the mid-nineteenth century, fossil fuels provided many of the modern conveniences of life—food, cities, industries, transportation, and electricity.