Detalle de: Energy and society

This chapter shows how energy has shaped society, from prehistoric times through today’s fossil fuel-driven civilization. It suggests that both prehistoric human evolution and the course of history can be interpreted as the quest for controlling greater stores and flows of more concentrated and more versatile forms of energy. It also views human dependence on ever-higher energy flows as an inevitable continuation of organismic evolution. The chapter first provides an overview of how energy flows and storages are measured before discussing how the combustion of fossil fuels and the generation of electricity gave rise to a new form of high-energy civilization whose primary energy sources now include renewable energy such as solar and wind energy. It then considers several first principles that underlie all conversions of energy, including those for calculating energy and power, and concludes with an assessment of complexities and caveats involved in measuring energy storages and flows.