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Industry Rises to Prominence - The Industrial Age (Energy Essay #3)
Coal and the steam engine revolutionized industry in the 1700’s, prompting unprecedented growth in all sectors of the economy. This new paradigm had transformed industry worldwide within a century. Coal and the power it supplied increased productivity in mining, and boosted profits. The textile industry was the next to capture the increased productivity offered by coal engines. As the professional tinkerers, more commonly referred to as engineers, refined the designs of the coal engines, their efficiency improved, and their size dropped to a size that they were able to be mounted upon wheeled vehicles, thus creating steam powered railways.
These rapid advances in the mastery of energy allowed factories to produce goods faster, more efficiently and cheaper. The new railways allowed the goods to be moved to more distant markets, at a lower cost than ever achieved previously.
However, a curious phenomenon was occurring. The more coal that the mines of England produced, the more coal England burned. Just like the first farmers to harness the power of oxen quickly became reliant upon the increased energy production from their crops, the English found uses for the additional coal.
Once a sulfur-free form of coal, known as coke, was developed, the iron industry began using it. The impact of this new source of energy can not be understated. Coal and iron together formed the building blocks of the Industrial age.
The increase in production and reduction in cost of iron from the introduction of coke reverberated throughout the industries of the time. Factories sprang up for every product imaginable, so long as someone could figure out a way to reduce production costs through the use of steam engines. Looms, presses, lathes, saws, all were powered though steam.
It became a happy circle. Each advance in technology served to increase demand for coal. The steam powered railroads served to convey people, goods and the coal that fueled the nation. As they spread, they required more iron for the rails, and more engines to meet the transportation demands. This required more demand at the iron foundries which combined with the new locomotives to drive up the demand for coal.
Strategically, England had used their technical know how to open up the undeveloped portions of the world, creating new markets for its products, and providing the needed raw materials to feed its factories. To protect this supply line, England switched its navy from sails to steam. This allowed their ships to ignore the wind in their protective duties, which provided them with a distinct upper hand against the sail powered ships they went up against. Plus, England had the capacity to feed the engines of its navy from home, so they were not subject to the whims of outside forces, but this of course increased the need for coal.
This interdependence between production and consumption, supply and demand, set a foundation for energy markets that persists to this day. Fuel consumption drives industry, allowing it to grow larger, necessitating more fuel to be obtained which continues this cycle.
Of course, the huge demand for coal brought in new producers. The other nations of the “civilized” world saw the new prosperity and huge profits England was reaping, and sent out surveyors to find their own coal fields. Belgium, France and Germany all developed their coal industries, fueling their own industrial revolutions. The United States did so as well, though later than the rest, due to the massive forests that blanketed the eastern states. Wood remained the dominant fuel for American industry up to the end of the Civil War. Before then, most US citizens had no clue that coal could be burned.
The industrial barons knew however, and sent out surveyors to find what coal if any the young nation had. It turns out the US has coal in spades, with the largest reserves in the world. By 1900, US mines had taken the production lead from the English, driving world coal production to a level approaching a billion tons a year. This was more than ten times the production levels of 1850, a mere 50 years prior.
If you recall, our Cro-Magnon forbearers started a trend of becoming reliant upon the underlying increase in energy consumption in their daily lives. This continued thought this era of increased coal production. In 1701, the average Englishman used under half a ton of coal a year. By 1850, he was using just under three tons a year. By 1900, he had increased his usage to four tons a year. The rest of the industrialized world was following suit as their industries reached comparative levels of sophistication.
This increased usage was not due to their cooking and heating more, or even be explained away by pointing to the increased amounts of traveling they did. Rather, it stemmed from them producing more in their jobs, and indirectly, through their purchases of manufactured goods with their new prosperity.
The more you produced the more energy you needed. The more energy you used, the more you produced. The more you produced the more wealth you generated.
The Industrial Revolution was in actuality an Energy Revolution, for without the revolutionary effect of steam engine generated energy, the industrial economies of the 19th century would not have reached the heights they did. As industry spread its revolution worldwide, so too spread the demand for energy.
With all of this demand, and the enormous amounts of revenue it generated, the nascent energy industry quickly matured, with the technology used advancing at a breakneck pace, aiding it to become one of the largest and most sophisticated business types in the world.
Mines became underground cities, or in certain areas, giant holes, turning mountains into molehills. Transportation networks evolved to funnel the coal from the mines to the factories. In many cases, the factories moved to the coal fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio in the US, the Ruhr River Valley in Germany, or the coal fields of Northern England.
A network of marketing and distribution also sprang up to promote new uses and drive up demand for coal. Coal fired furnaces replaced wood stoves used to heat the buildings in industrialized nations. Products such as coal fired stoves and household sized heaters were created and refined, driving domestic use up, and marketed as making the consumer’s life better and easier. In effect, teaching the consumer that the way to a better, more convenient lifestyle was through the use of more energy.
The small regional mines around the world consolidated into massive corporations, increasing their efficiencies though centralized management of money, labor and equipment. The high costs of starting a new mine, tens of thousands of pounds, dollars, francs or marks respectively, was a huge sum of money for the time. This led to the creation of new capital investment schemes to raise the money, leading to the financial markets to become intertwined and interdependent with the energy market, which persists to this day.
Because of the high profits and huge sums of revenue generated, coal companies became experts at protecting their business from the whims of government and market volatility. The companies invested in new techniques, and adopted new practices if they increased the bottom line. They began to lobby the governments of their countries, seeking to defeat laws which would negatively impact their profits, and promote those that favored them, such as laws forbidding miners striking for better working conditions on the grounds that an uninterrupted supply of coal was deemed a strategic necessity for the nation.
The companies developed into regional corporations, which colluded together to divide world markets among themselves, and fix prices at a suitably high price point, ensuring profits. Despite frequent consumer and industrial complaints, the deep pockets of the coal corporations were simply too influential on politicians. Why take a risk of losing the favor of such an important industry by interfering with their business? Elections are easily bought you know.
Yet all was not peaches and cream. Coal was dirty. Soot was a major issue that had not been solved. In the major metropolitan areas of the world, the air was so laden with soot respiratory ailments became epidemic and when rain fell through it, the rain turned acidic, killing trees and dissolving marble facades of buildings.
The coal dust of the mines ate at the lungs of the miners themselves, reducing their life expectancy to less than 45 years. The loss in lives from mining cave-ins, explosions and fires fueled the sensationalist press of the era, and the horrific working conditions gave rise to calls for reform, with writers of the era constantly having new fodder with which to remind their readers of the high secondary costs of coal.
Coal, although higher in embodied energy content than wood, still was too bulky to be truly efficient. The large amounts and weight of fuel needed for ocean transversing steamships for example, meant that little space was left for the cargo and passengers that paid for the voyage. Plus, industry had come up with new processes which required heat capabilities beyond that which coal could produce.
Coal had become so important to the economies of the world, that it imposed a new economic order. It had risen to such a level of eminence that it eclipsed all other commodities in the market. It was dirty and dangerous, and the business side was corrupt and monopolistic, but it was so entwined into the heart of industry worldwide, that to consider reducing dependence upon it was unthinkable, for without coal; the Industrial Revolution would not have come to pass.
Yet the end of the coal age reared its head in January of 1901, when just outside of Beaumont, Texas, on a small, nondescript hill called Spindletop, the Hammil brothers discovered what Jeb Clampett was to later call “Black Gold, Texas Tea”. They had struck oil, with a well that by itself, outstripped the combined production of every other oil well on earth at the time.
The world would never be the same.
These rapid advances in the mastery of energy allowed factories to produce goods faster, more efficiently and cheaper. The new railways allowed the goods to be moved to more distant markets, at a lower cost than ever achieved previously.
However, a curious phenomenon was occurring. The more coal that the mines of England produced, the more coal England burned. Just like the first farmers to harness the power of oxen quickly became reliant upon the increased energy production from their crops, the English found uses for the additional coal.
Once a sulfur-free form of coal, known as coke, was developed, the iron industry began using it. The impact of this new source of energy can not be understated. Coal and iron together formed the building blocks of the Industrial age.
The increase in production and reduction in cost of iron from the introduction of coke reverberated throughout the industries of the time. Factories sprang up for every product imaginable, so long as someone could figure out a way to reduce production costs through the use of steam engines. Looms, presses, lathes, saws, all were powered though steam.
It became a happy circle. Each advance in technology served to increase demand for coal. The steam powered railroads served to convey people, goods and the coal that fueled the nation. As they spread, they required more iron for the rails, and more engines to meet the transportation demands. This required more demand at the iron foundries which combined with the new locomotives to drive up the demand for coal.
Strategically, England had used their technical know how to open up the undeveloped portions of the world, creating new markets for its products, and providing the needed raw materials to feed its factories. To protect this supply line, England switched its navy from sails to steam. This allowed their ships to ignore the wind in their protective duties, which provided them with a distinct upper hand against the sail powered ships they went up against. Plus, England had the capacity to feed the engines of its navy from home, so they were not subject to the whims of outside forces, but this of course increased the need for coal.
This interdependence between production and consumption, supply and demand, set a foundation for energy markets that persists to this day. Fuel consumption drives industry, allowing it to grow larger, necessitating more fuel to be obtained which continues this cycle.
Of course, the huge demand for coal brought in new producers. The other nations of the “civilized” world saw the new prosperity and huge profits England was reaping, and sent out surveyors to find their own coal fields. Belgium, France and Germany all developed their coal industries, fueling their own industrial revolutions. The United States did so as well, though later than the rest, due to the massive forests that blanketed the eastern states. Wood remained the dominant fuel for American industry up to the end of the Civil War. Before then, most US citizens had no clue that coal could be burned.
The industrial barons knew however, and sent out surveyors to find what coal if any the young nation had. It turns out the US has coal in spades, with the largest reserves in the world. By 1900, US mines had taken the production lead from the English, driving world coal production to a level approaching a billion tons a year. This was more than ten times the production levels of 1850, a mere 50 years prior.
If you recall, our Cro-Magnon forbearers started a trend of becoming reliant upon the underlying increase in energy consumption in their daily lives. This continued thought this era of increased coal production. In 1701, the average Englishman used under half a ton of coal a year. By 1850, he was using just under three tons a year. By 1900, he had increased his usage to four tons a year. The rest of the industrialized world was following suit as their industries reached comparative levels of sophistication.
This increased usage was not due to their cooking and heating more, or even be explained away by pointing to the increased amounts of traveling they did. Rather, it stemmed from them producing more in their jobs, and indirectly, through their purchases of manufactured goods with their new prosperity.
The more you produced the more energy you needed. The more energy you used, the more you produced. The more you produced the more wealth you generated.
The Industrial Revolution was in actuality an Energy Revolution, for without the revolutionary effect of steam engine generated energy, the industrial economies of the 19th century would not have reached the heights they did. As industry spread its revolution worldwide, so too spread the demand for energy.
With all of this demand, and the enormous amounts of revenue it generated, the nascent energy industry quickly matured, with the technology used advancing at a breakneck pace, aiding it to become one of the largest and most sophisticated business types in the world.
Mines became underground cities, or in certain areas, giant holes, turning mountains into molehills. Transportation networks evolved to funnel the coal from the mines to the factories. In many cases, the factories moved to the coal fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio in the US, the Ruhr River Valley in Germany, or the coal fields of Northern England.
A network of marketing and distribution also sprang up to promote new uses and drive up demand for coal. Coal fired furnaces replaced wood stoves used to heat the buildings in industrialized nations. Products such as coal fired stoves and household sized heaters were created and refined, driving domestic use up, and marketed as making the consumer’s life better and easier. In effect, teaching the consumer that the way to a better, more convenient lifestyle was through the use of more energy.
The small regional mines around the world consolidated into massive corporations, increasing their efficiencies though centralized management of money, labor and equipment. The high costs of starting a new mine, tens of thousands of pounds, dollars, francs or marks respectively, was a huge sum of money for the time. This led to the creation of new capital investment schemes to raise the money, leading to the financial markets to become intertwined and interdependent with the energy market, which persists to this day.
Because of the high profits and huge sums of revenue generated, coal companies became experts at protecting their business from the whims of government and market volatility. The companies invested in new techniques, and adopted new practices if they increased the bottom line. They began to lobby the governments of their countries, seeking to defeat laws which would negatively impact their profits, and promote those that favored them, such as laws forbidding miners striking for better working conditions on the grounds that an uninterrupted supply of coal was deemed a strategic necessity for the nation.
The companies developed into regional corporations, which colluded together to divide world markets among themselves, and fix prices at a suitably high price point, ensuring profits. Despite frequent consumer and industrial complaints, the deep pockets of the coal corporations were simply too influential on politicians. Why take a risk of losing the favor of such an important industry by interfering with their business? Elections are easily bought you know.
Yet all was not peaches and cream. Coal was dirty. Soot was a major issue that had not been solved. In the major metropolitan areas of the world, the air was so laden with soot respiratory ailments became epidemic and when rain fell through it, the rain turned acidic, killing trees and dissolving marble facades of buildings.
The coal dust of the mines ate at the lungs of the miners themselves, reducing their life expectancy to less than 45 years. The loss in lives from mining cave-ins, explosions and fires fueled the sensationalist press of the era, and the horrific working conditions gave rise to calls for reform, with writers of the era constantly having new fodder with which to remind their readers of the high secondary costs of coal.
Coal, although higher in embodied energy content than wood, still was too bulky to be truly efficient. The large amounts and weight of fuel needed for ocean transversing steamships for example, meant that little space was left for the cargo and passengers that paid for the voyage. Plus, industry had come up with new processes which required heat capabilities beyond that which coal could produce.
Coal had become so important to the economies of the world, that it imposed a new economic order. It had risen to such a level of eminence that it eclipsed all other commodities in the market. It was dirty and dangerous, and the business side was corrupt and monopolistic, but it was so entwined into the heart of industry worldwide, that to consider reducing dependence upon it was unthinkable, for without coal; the Industrial Revolution would not have come to pass.
Yet the end of the coal age reared its head in January of 1901, when just outside of Beaumont, Texas, on a small, nondescript hill called Spindletop, the Hammil brothers discovered what Jeb Clampett was to later call “Black Gold, Texas Tea”. They had struck oil, with a well that by itself, outstripped the combined production of every other oil well on earth at the time.
The world would never be the same.