Planethopia

It has been documented that the Chinese were using coal as early as 1000 BC to bake porcelain. The ancient Greeks also wrote about it in their history. In the Western countries, many of the forests had been destroyed by the 1100s to build houses and ships. Wood to heat houses became expensive, so people began looking for alternate ways to provide heat to their homes.

By the 1600s, coal had grown in popularity as a heating source. It was also used in breweries, glassmaking, brick making, and many other businesses. Coal continued to grow in popularity. Originally, it was mined from shallow near-surface deposits. As this coal was used, miners began building mine shafts in order to go deeper into the ground where many coal deposits existed. Coal mining was very hazardous. Shafts and tunnels had to be supported by beams. There was also the constant danger of explosions, or fires. By the beginning of the 1700s, coal was used in tall furnaces. This marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. England had many coal deposits, and during that time, it became a very wealthy nation because of this.

With the invention of the steam engine, the demand for coal further increased. Coal is the energy source that significantly changed civilization and triggered the development of the modern world. People have used petroleum since at least 3000 BC. Mesopotamians used “rock oil” in architectural adhesives, ship caulks, medicines and roads.

Two thousand years ago, the Chinese refined crude oil for use in lamps and in heating homes. In the past, petroleum was collected in small containers from where it oozed from the ground. In America, the Indians, doctors, and pharmacists used it as a form of medicine. For example, the Indians had used it for hundreds of years to treat skin sicknesses and breathing difficulties. People then began to find other uses for petroleum. Eventually, it replaced whale oil for lighting, and the oil lamp was invented.

Most experts credit Edwin L. Drake with starting the oil industry on a large scale. In 1858, the Seneca Oil Company, which was interested in oil as a fuel, hired Drake to drill a well near Titusville, Pennsylvania. Drake worked with Billy Smith, a well digger, and dug one pit after another. The men used a wooden rig and a steam-run drill. Because each pit they dug was threatened with water and cave-ins, Drake ran an iron pipe deep into the ground and drilled from inside it. The pipe acted as a casing and kept Drake’s path clear for drilling. About a year later, Drake and Smith had dug a well 69.5 feet (21.2 meters) deep. On August 27, 1859, the oil suddenly swept up the shaft.

Gas as an energy source was first manufactured in the late eighteenth century. Scientists discovered that gas could be produced from heating coal without using air – because of this the gas was called coal gas. William Murdock, a British engineer, is known as the father of the gas industry. In 1792, he was using gas to light his own home. Coal gas was first used for public lighting with gaslit streetlamps and public buildings. From there, its use spread to private homes.

In order to transport the gas, it was stored in elastic water skins that were stowed in horse-drawn wagons. A long tube fitted with a tap was put into the water skins. This controlled the dispensing of the gas. The wagon delivered the gas to individual homes by plugging the tube into the customer’s tank. The tap was then opened, and straps were tightened around the water skins to force the gas from the skin into the tank. Eventually, gas was stored in cylinders, making it less cumber-some to deliver.

Gas began to be used as a fuel in other modes of transportation, as well. Trains, steamboats, and ships carried gas in bottles. As the demand for gas increased, more efficient delivery methods were experimented with, and eventually pipes were placed underground to directly deliver the gas from factory to home. By this time, gas was not only used for lighting, but for cooking and heating, as well.

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