History of energy sources

From the beginning of time, right up to the present, mankind has always been motivated to use all the resources provided by nature to make his life easier and more pleasant. And, of course, energy has always been man’s best friend in this quest.

What is the oldest form of energy used by man? Without any doubt, it is fire! Our distant ancestors, men of prehistoric times, learnt to use wood to keep themselves warm and to cook their mammoth steaks - almost certainly burning their fingers a little at the start!

Energy from the biomass , in other words the energy used in chemical form by human beings, had just found its first applications.

And then, came the wind! The first sailing boats are thought to date from 3000 BC.

The use of wind energy was born. The first windmills appeared with the Persians, around 2000 BC. The technique would not be imported into Europe until the 12 th century AD, a thousand years later. The famous Dutch windmills sprung up throughout the countryside in the 14 th century. All these enemies of Don Quixote were mainly used to grind grain or to pump water. The Dutch, in particular, used them not only to dry out their polders, the land tenaciously won from the sea, but also to turn their sawmills and to manufacture oils.

On the other side of the North Sea, England did not remain idle: it was there that the shape of the windmill sails was perfected, using scientific calculations. In the 19 th century, there were almost 10 000 windmills in England. Tiny windmills, used to pump water, appeared in the countryside at the same time. Equipped with numerous blades and of small diameter, they had very little in common with modern wind turbines.

After air … water! Close cousins of windmills, watermills also go back to ancient times. They represent a first stage in the domestication of hydraulic energy. They were used for the same purposes as windmills. Dams have also existed for a very long time. The first may have been built in Egypt, by the Pharaoh Menes, in 2900 BC. They were used to store water for cultivation and for human and animal consumption. It was only after the discovery of electricity, that they were used to produce energy.

These ancient energy sources are used even more nowadays, but of course, with vastly improved technology. And other energy forms have made their entrance onto the stage: modern energy sources. Modern, yes, even if they are not all young. First and foremost, the energy sources that gave rise to the two major industrial revolutions were coal (which was originally wood) in the 19 th century and oil (as well as natural gas) in the 20 th century .

It is due to these fossil fuels that the rich countries have been able to make energy available to their populations, in sufficient quantities to have enormously changed everyone’s life.

Finally, the discovery of natural radioactivity in 1896 opened the way for control of the atom. The energy from nuclear fission was born. This is the energy liberated when the very large atoms of uranium are split. For those countries that made the choice (for example France), it is an important means of production of electricity. It is the most recent of energy forms, the first nuclear power plants dating from the 1950’s.

And then, there are the energy sources of the future.
Of these, the use of solar energy remains the most recent (from the beginning of the 1970’s). Strangely enough, the discovery of how sunlight could be changed into an electrical current (the photovoltaic effect) is older than that of radioactivity, dating as it does from 1839. But industrialists waited for the first oil crisis in 1973 before becoming seriously interested.

In the case of geothermal energy, the water in the deep substrata that is naturally warm or very hot is used for heating purposes or for the production of electricity. Even if Asterix and Caesar already knew of the existence of hot springs, they used them above all for their baths. Like solar energy, the use of geothermal energy dates from the second half of the 20 th century.

And then, there are those sources we do not yet know how to handle … Energy sources that man has not yet managed to control to his advantage.

Perhaps the day will come when we know how to use …

Natural electricity, otherwise known as lightning. A flash of lightning abounds with furious energy. Unfortunately, after a lot of attempts that have failed, we still do not know how to recover it. It is too intense and too violent, and besides, we don’t know how to forecast when or where it is going to occur next. At best, thanks to lightning conductors, we manage to protect houses and buildings, where it could otherwise do an awful lot of damage.

Tides, marine currents and ocean waves all possess enormous energy, but we do not yet know how to harness it profitably on a large scale. However, research is continuing and has made great strides recently. Many different devices are undergoing trials. Some of them will be installed in large numbers along our coasts to produce electricity.
There is only one plant in existence, producing electricity from tidal energy on an industrial scale, and it is in France - the tidal energy plant at La Rance, in Britanny.
The temperature difference between the surface and the depths of the oceans also provides a theoretical possibility of producing electricity. However, this thermal energy of the oceans appears at present to be difficult and costly to recover. But who knows, perhaps one day soon, a smart research team will find a solution ?