77
ber. Coal was burnt in most households but mines
were unable to keep up with the pace of the
increasing coal demand of towns like London in
the early eighteenth century where more than
600,000 people lived and consumed 1000 tonnes
of coal every day. Inhabitants suffered from soot
and sulphur dioxide increasingly until the midtwentieth century. In March 1712 Thomas
Newcomen invented a steam (and thus coal)
powered engine that could effectively pump
water out of coal mines reducing the costs of
dewatering by 85%. Twenty years later more than
100 Newcomen machines were used in England
and elsewhere in the world. As a result, coal production in Britain increased from 3 million tonnes
in 1712 to its double by 1750 and 10 million
tonnes of coal were mined at the end of the
century.
Newcomen’s machine not only increased coal
production but it was the first real machine that
transformed the chemical energy of coal into
physical energy automatically more effectively
than horse or people. Steam engines and the
abundance of energy from coal firing transformed
the world at that time and this transformation is
known as the industrial revolution.
Industrial growth resulted in the complete
transformation of production as a whole. Mass
production with often automated sections took
over from handcraft manufacturers and companies targeted to own and control the complete
production process at every level instead of managing and producing only parts of the processing
series.
Industrialisation, however, had its price as air
pollution increased and the “black country”
developed. The level of atmospheric CO 2 was
280 ppm at the start of the industrial revolution.
This is the control level to which increasing levels of CO 2 in later periods of the “carbon age” are
compared. With growing industrialisation acid
rain intensified as well.
Steam engines made the construction of railway and steamboat possible revolutionising land
and maritime transport. The establishment of the
railway network and associated towns together
with increasing trade caused deforestation over
extended areas in the USA (Fig. 4.3).
Newcomen’s invention changed the utilisation
of energy. Until then, wood, coal and other fuel
were only the sources of heat used for heating or
cooking. Newcomen’s machine turned this heat
energy to mechanical energy and became able to
work. For higher power only a greater machine
was necessary for which more coal was required
but that was supplied by Newcomen’s engine. As
more coal was produced in Britain more coal was
burnt and more energy was used. This energy
excess was utilised primarily in ironworks thus
iron became cheap and easily available triggering
an enormous boom in machinery and mechanical
engineering. Growing demand for energy also
increased coal production thus new producers
started work in Germany, France, Belgium and
somewhat later in the USA as well. By 1900 coal
production in the world was almost 1 billion
tonnes, more than tenfold the volume 50 years
earlier.
As Fig. 4.4 illustrates the volume of global
coal mining has been increasing—with a couple
of setbacks—since 1900 but not with the UK
being the engine of production. Coal mining in
the UK reached its peak shortly after 1900. Then
with significant undulations it started to decrease
(Fig. 4.5). Coal mining peaks and centre regions
shifted continuously as new sites were explored
(the USA, Russia, South Africa, China) and new
methods of mining developed.
Coal is an important energy source still today
because, on the one hand, the rapidly increasing
energy demands of humanity could not be satisfied by the newly found and utilised crude oil and
natural gas. Intensifying industrial production
and convenient life required and continues to
require such energy production that cannot be
imagined without the utilisation of coal presently
not even with the increasing trends of renewable
energy resources. On the other hand, new technologies made the utilisation of coal “cleaner”,
more environmental friendly and thus it is still
mined in significant amounts in certain countries
as presented in Table 4.1.
Coal was dumped by many countries as the
main source of energy due to the environmental
concerns of its relatively high ash and sulphur
contents. Ash yield is the non-combustible residue
4.1 Changes in the Outer Boundary Zone of the Earth’s Crust
ber. Coal was burnt in most households but mines
were unable to keep up with the pace of the
increasing coal demand of towns like London in
the early eighteenth century where more than
600,000 people lived and consumed 1000 tonnes
of coal every day. Inhabitants suffered from soot
and sulphur dioxide increasingly until the midtwentieth century. In March 1712 Thomas
Newcomen invented a steam (and thus coal)
powered engine that could effectively pump
water out of coal mines reducing the costs of
dewatering by 85%. Twenty years later more than
100 Newcomen machines were used in England
and elsewhere in the world. As a result, coal production in Britain increased from 3 million tonnes
in 1712 to its double by 1750 and 10 million
tonnes of coal were mined at the end of the
century.
Newcomen’s machine not only increased coal
production but it was the first real machine that
transformed the chemical energy of coal into
physical energy automatically more effectively
than horse or people. Steam engines and the
abundance of energy from coal firing transformed
the world at that time and this transformation is
known as the industrial revolution.
Industrial growth resulted in the complete
transformation of production as a whole. Mass
production with often automated sections took
over from handcraft manufacturers and companies targeted to own and control the complete
production process at every level instead of managing and producing only parts of the processing
series.
Industrialisation, however, had its price as air
pollution increased and the “black country”
developed. The level of atmospheric CO 2 was
280 ppm at the start of the industrial revolution.
This is the control level to which increasing levels of CO 2 in later periods of the “carbon age” are
compared. With growing industrialisation acid
rain intensified as well.
Steam engines made the construction of railway and steamboat possible revolutionising land
and maritime transport. The establishment of the
railway network and associated towns together
with increasing trade caused deforestation over
extended areas in the USA (Fig. 4.3).
Newcomen’s invention changed the utilisation
of energy. Until then, wood, coal and other fuel
were only the sources of heat used for heating or
cooking. Newcomen’s machine turned this heat
energy to mechanical energy and became able to
work. For higher power only a greater machine
was necessary for which more coal was required
but that was supplied by Newcomen’s engine. As
more coal was produced in Britain more coal was
burnt and more energy was used. This energy
excess was utilised primarily in ironworks thus
iron became cheap and easily available triggering
an enormous boom in machinery and mechanical
engineering. Growing demand for energy also
increased coal production thus new producers
started work in Germany, France, Belgium and
somewhat later in the USA as well. By 1900 coal
production in the world was almost 1 billion
tonnes, more than tenfold the volume 50 years
earlier.
As Fig. 4.4 illustrates the volume of global
coal mining has been increasing—with a couple
of setbacks—since 1900 but not with the UK
being the engine of production. Coal mining in
the UK reached its peak shortly after 1900. Then
with significant undulations it started to decrease
(Fig. 4.5). Coal mining peaks and centre regions
shifted continuously as new sites were explored
(the USA, Russia, South Africa, China) and new
methods of mining developed.
Coal is an important energy source still today
because, on the one hand, the rapidly increasing
energy demands of humanity could not be satisfied by the newly found and utilised crude oil and
natural gas. Intensifying industrial production
and convenient life required and continues to
require such energy production that cannot be
imagined without the utilisation of coal presently
not even with the increasing trends of renewable
energy resources. On the other hand, new technologies made the utilisation of coal “cleaner”,
more environmental friendly and thus it is still
mined in significant amounts in certain countries
as presented in Table 4.1.
Coal was dumped by many countries as the
main source of energy due to the environmental
concerns of its relatively high ash and sulphur
contents. Ash yield is the non-combustible residue
4.1 Changes in the Outer Boundary Zone of the Earth’s Crust