The Fuels That Powered the Past Might Not Power the Future

The original power is, of course, manpower. Maybe that term is no longer politically correct and it should be called human power or muscle power. Granddaddy referred to it as "elbow grease." But the fact is that when mankind first stood upright and maybe even before, if he wanted to move a mass from point A to Point B, he picked it up and carried it, or he dragged it, or he pushed it, or he pulled it himself, and without any assistance from machines that required fuel of any kind.

Humans got smarter. They found out how to make human power more effective. They invented the lever, the wheel, and pulleys, but the fuel that powered those tools was still provided by the sweat of the brow of the humans using them.

Fire was discovered probably quite by accident. Lightning likely caused a fire, and humans discovered that fire, when controlled, had many uses. At first, fire was used as the fuel to cook foods, but over time humans learned that fire could actually be used in many other ways to produce power for all sorts of things.

Fire is still what causes combustible substances like wood, coal, and natural gas to produce energy.

Horses provided power, and the "fuel" that produced that power was grass or hay. There was a time when horsepower moved the world. Horses were used for everything. They pulled farm wagons and fancy carriages. They supplied the power to pull the plows and crush grain that fed the world.

But manpower and horsepower were limited power sources. More power was needed, so mankind used brainpower and found ways to use fire to create horsepower. Coal and wood were burned to heat water and make steam that powered the first automated transportation, trains. Trains were amazing. They opened up whole new worlds.

Gasoline, produced from crude oil, made the fuel that powered the first cars. Gasoline made from crude oil still is the power that drives most of the billions of cars that are on the road today.

But wood, coal and other fossil fuels are the fuels that powered the past. They aren't the fuel that will power the future!