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| Photo by José Luís Agapito on Flickr |
So when did mankind started our reliance on fossil fuels?
The first significant use of fossil fuels, as postulated by Steffen et al (2011), was in China during the Song dynasty (960–1279), primarily in its usage of coal to support the iron industry. England subsequently overtook China's fossil fuels usage by the 1600s, burning around 360,000 tonnes of coal annually. Nonetheless, CO2 atmospheric emissions were not massive then.
Subsequently, the industrial revolution in the 1800s saw energy use grow by about 40-fold and economic production by 50-fold. The subsequent "Great Acceleration", as termed by Steffen et al (2011), saw human population increase from 3 to 6 billion in just 50 year with a rise of 15-fold in economic activity. Fossil fuel consumption has since grown on an upward trajectory, resulting in carbon emission levels illustrated by the chart below.
With industrialisation and urbanisation taking place at such a rapid place, Ellis (2011) argued that humans may have irreversibly altered the terrestrial biosphere through our activities. Amongst others, the use of fossil energy to replace biomass fuel and human and animal labour was likely one of the key contributing factors
Here's a video clip that summarises for us in 300 seconds, mankind's history of using fossil fuels in the last 300 years.
Subsequently, the industrial revolution in the 1800s saw energy use grow by about 40-fold and economic production by 50-fold. The subsequent "Great Acceleration", as termed by Steffen et al (2011), saw human population increase from 3 to 6 billion in just 50 year with a rise of 15-fold in economic activity. Fossil fuel consumption has since grown on an upward trajectory, resulting in carbon emission levels illustrated by the chart below.
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| Chart by Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre (CDIAC), funded by US Department of Energy |
With industrialisation and urbanisation taking place at such a rapid place, Ellis (2011) argued that humans may have irreversibly altered the terrestrial biosphere through our activities. Amongst others, the use of fossil energy to replace biomass fuel and human and animal labour was likely one of the key contributing factors
Here's a video clip that summarises for us in 300 seconds, mankind's history of using fossil fuels in the last 300 years.
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