tnrkitect | So How Did We Get In This Handbasket Again? (Energy Essay #1)

A brief history of the Energy Economy from the Stone Age to the advent of the Coal Age.

We all are aware of how high gas prices have risen in the last year and a half. Some of us are more aware than others, thanks to the amount of driving we have to do on a regular basis, or through being proud owners of gas-guzzling behemoths. In case you haven’t noticed, because you were cut off from the outside world, hiding out under a rock somewhere, or just had your head in the sand for the last year, gas prices are steadily increasing, showing no signs of going back down. You may hear that the prices are so high because of the unrest in the Middle East, or due to price gouging by the oil companies, who are in cahoots with the oil men (and women) occupying the White House, but you would be just as enlightened as the blind man describing an elephant from just feeling it’s tail.

In order to understand how we got ourselves into this mess, we must delve into history, and gain an understanding of how the energy economy of today came to exist. Or to appropriate a favorite tactic from Mr. Peabody of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, step into the WABAC Machine. We will have to head back to the Stone Age, when humans were hunter-gatherers, scrabbling to keep food in their stomachs, and keep themselves out of the stomachs of the other nasty beasts with big, pointy teeth, that considered humans crunchy, and tasty with ketchup.

These ancient ancestors of ours had no clue about what “embodied energy” means, or what an “energy cost-benefit analysis” does, especially since their language consisted of no more than grunts, moans and other such noises. If you need an auditory example, I suggest you buy tickets to the next wrestling extravaganza to come to town. Some family trees haven’t progressed very far. However language impaired this ancient forbearer of ours may have been, he did know which berries, tubers, insects and such gave him the most energy. He also figured out that meat carried more energy in it than plants, and therefore was more valuable as a food source.

These ancient Cro-Magnon warriors figured out that a pointy rock affixed to the end of a stick was a better weapon than just the stick alone. They had to use a slightly greater amount of energy to throw or thrust the spear as before due to the weight of the stone, but were much more effective at achieving their goal of bringing down an animal for food. He and his fellow tribesmen quickly figured out that larger animals were better targets for their primitive spears and clubs, due to having more meat on their bones, even though the larger animals were a bit more dangerous to bring down. This was due to a realization that with a slightly larger expenditure of energy than needed to hunt and bring down smaller prey, they could super-size their meal, and feed everyone from one animal. Again, the stone tipped spears gave them better results, and thus it was the height of Cro-Magnon fashion to be seen toting a relatively straight, flint tipped spear.

To see how society progressed, we hop back in the WABAC Machine, and head forward to around 10,000 years ago in what is now Iraq. Here, primitive brainiacs wandering the scrub brush between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers figured out that planting crops and tending them until they matured yielded much more energy than foraging across wide tracts of land for nuts and berries. True, clearing land and tilling the soil was hard, back-breaking work, but the crops they were able to harvest still yielded a surplus above and beyond the energy that would have been used in foraging, not to mention providing a much more reliable source of food.

We load back up into the WABAC Machine, and this time head forward to around 4,000 years ago, when these farmer’s progeny tamed oxen and hooked them up to a plow for the first time. They were using more of this energy math. Oxen require a great deal more feed and water than a man does, but when hooked to a plow, the amount of earth a farmer and oxen is able to till and plant increases three fold, now able to feed not only the farmer and his family, but the oxen too, with a surplus left over.

Now, these early farmers may not have been able to explain this connection, but the benefits were easily understood to them. They gained a dependable source of food, had greater productivity generating a surplus of food which mitigates any variability in crop yields. This excess of food and the embodied energy it contained allowed farmers who settled down in close proximity to each other to pool their resources, and ensure everyone had enough food to eat, with less work for each individual.

Around 2,600 years ago, these same farmers realized that if they could just get more water to the plants themselves, their yields would further increase. So they decided to see if it was worth it to undertake the back breaking work of digging ditches to channel water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers into their fields, bringing a steady dependable supply of water to their crops. Yes, it was hard work, but after seeing the bumper crop that the first farm achieved, it was determined to be worth the effort, and every other farmer up and down the river did their best to “keep up with Abdullah”.

Note this trend. As humans became dependant upon the increased reliability and production of food, what they were actually becoming dependent upon was the underlying increase in energy consumption.

Now these early settlements were not without problems. When these tribes were nomadic, they had no problems finding wood, grass, dung or whatever else they used to cook and heat themselves. A nomad was able to walk around their campsite every day and easily find some fuel to burn, since they moved campsites regularly as they followed the animal herds.

Once they settled down into villages however, they quickly realized that things didn’t quite work the same way. Not only did the villagers now have to go a little farther every day to find fuel, but they were in competition with each other for the same resources. No longer were they picking up camp and heading someplace with more fuel every couple of days. No they now were settled, and had roof over their head and mouths to feed! Plus, these early villagers had managed to develop pottery with which they could store their surplus food with less spoilage. Plus, thanks to the discovery of copper smelting, they now were able to bring home shiny trinkets to impress their wives, with the hope that it would distract them from just exactly when they were managing to drag themselves home. This new-fangled smelting used even more fuel. For example, early metal forges required a ton of firewood to smelt 10 pounds of metal.

Some historians estimate that for every man, woman, and child in these early villages, a half ton of firewood was required per year, which, when added to the primitive industries’ requirements, put a massive strain upon the local forests. Witness the first energy crunch.

Now these early urban dwellers were not any dumber than we are for the most part, and they recognized this growing problem. Some might say they achieved energy consciousness. In order to meet and overcome this supply problem, the smart villagers devised a new energy economy which set the basic pattern followed down through the years with coal, and now oil. Of course being the smart ones, they became the bosses and told everyone else what to do.

Teams of people were organized to canvas the surrounding countryside for wood. Once located, these branches and logs were collected, brought back to the village, stacked and dried properly, until needed, at which point they were traded, sold or given to those with need. As time wore on, these teams of people found their niches, and developed specialties, such a woodcutter, draymen, warehouse owner, and wood seller.

Issues of ownership, compensation, and sustainability arose. Who owns the forest? What is a fair price to pay for the services rendered? How quickly can the wood be harvested from the forest, without depleting the resource? What happens if I take the wood without paying for it? These social, political, ethical and legal issues all arose, and had to be dealt with.

As these villages developed into towns, and thence into cities, they began to spread out, and began to compete with each other for the same forests. Wood was quickly recognized as a strategic resource, to be protected and fought over. Wars were fought. Civilizations arose and fell as they competed for resources, or were denied them. Energy crises could kill a civilization just as easily as the axe of an enemy.

By the Middle Ages, Europe was in the middle of an energy crunch equal to any of the modern era. The expanding populations required more farmland to feed the masses, which meant more forests were being cleared. This was on top of the increased demands placed upon the continent’s forests from the increased need for housing and new industries such as ship making, glass blowing, brick making, and those new fangled iron works. Iron was the most energy intensive product produced, requiring a ton of firewood to produce 20 pounds of metal. Feeding a single iron smelter for a year required 400 square miles of forest. Transportation costs rose, as woodsmen had to travel farther to find wood. The forests of Europe were quickly disappearing, literally going up in smoke.

Then somebody remembered some black rocks that burned.