People have always found ways to harness energy, such as using animals to do work or inventing machines to tap the power of wind or water. The industrialization of the modern world starting in the eighteenth century was accompanied by the widespread use of such fossil fuels as coal, oil, and natural gas.…
On August 27, 1859, Edwin Drake struck oil sixty-nine feet below the surface of the earth near Titusville, Pennsylvania. This was the first successful modern oil well, which ushered in the "Age of Petroleum." Not only did petroleum help meet the growing demand for new and better fuels for heating and lighting, but it also proved to be an excellent fuel for the internal combustion engine, which was developed in the late 1800s.…
Natural gas is an important source of energy in the United States. Methane, ethane, and propane are the primary constituents of natural gas, with methane making up 73 to 95% of the total. The natural gas industry developed out of the petroleum industry. Wells drilled for oil often produced considerable amounts of natural gas, but early oilmen had no idea what to do with it. Originally considered a…
Although it had been used to create energy for centuries, the first large-scale use of coal occurred during the Industrial Revolution in England from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. At that time the sky was filled with billowing columns of black smoke, soot covered the towns and cities, and workers breathed the thick coal dust swirling around them. Most people then were not concerned with environmental issues because the Industrial Revolution meant jobs to the workers, and fa…
Nuclear energy is used in the United States to generate electricity and to power some navy ships. In the decades since the first commercial nuclear reactor went into operation in 1956, the nuclear power industry has had a difficult time persuading the American public of the safety of its enterprise. In the early 1970s most Americans favored the use of nuclear power because it appeared to provide c…
Imagine energy sources that use no oil, produce no pollution, cannot be affected by political events and cartels, create no radioactive waste, and yet are economical. Although it sounds impossible, some experts claim that technological advances could make wide use of renewable energy sources possible within a few decades. Renewable energy is energy that is naturally regenerated and is, therefore, virtually unlimited. Sources include the sun (solar), wind, water (hydropower), vegetation (biomass)…
Fossil fuels and uranium are nonrenewable resources. Nonrenewable resources are defined as concentrations of solid, liquid, or gaseous hydrocarbons that occur naturally in or near the earth's surface. These resources must be currently or potentially recoverable for economic use. They are formed much more slowly than they are consumed, so they are considered nonrenewable. Knowing estimates o…
Since 1879, when Thomas Edison flipped the first switch to light Menlo Park, New Jersey, the use of electrical power has become nearly universal in the United States. …
Energy conservation is the efficient use of energy, without necessarily curtailing the services that energy provides. Conservation occurs when societies develop efficient technologies that reduce energy needs. Environmental concerns, such as acid rain and the potential for global warming, have increased public awareness about the importance of energy conservation.…