Global Energy Shifts

by Podobnik, Bruce

• ISBN13: 9781592132942
• ISBN10: 1592132944
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-01
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

Summary

In the year 1900, the industrial world was almost entirely reliant on coal for its commercial energy. Only 50 years later, a new system - based on oil - had spread across the entire globe. By the end of the twentieth century, yet another system - based on natural gas - was achieving world-wide diffusion. Global Energy Shifts explores the societal forces that led to the expansion of these energy systems and demonstrates that the convergence of specific geopolitical, commercial, and social conditions can generate rapid and far-reaching transformations in the energy foundations of our world. In an important concluding chapter, Podobnik describes opportunities for fostering a similarly rapid shift toward renewable energy systems in the twenty-first century drawing on lessons from world history.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
1 Global Energy Shifts in World Historical Perspective	1	(17)
2 The Rise of Coal	18	(20)
3 Conflict in Coal and the Emergence of New Energy Systems	38	(30)
4 The First Period of Crisis	68	(24)
5 The Rise of Oil, Natural Gas, and Nuclear Power	92	(21)
6 The Second Period of Crisis	113	(29)
7 Toward a Sustainable Energy System	142	(27)
Appendix A Sources and Methods Used to Compile Energy Data	169	(4)
Appendix B Glossary of Petroleum Company Names	173	(2)
Appendix C Sources of Strike Data in Energy Industries	175	(2)
Notes	177	(12)
Bibliography	189	(28)
Index	217