Power and Change The History of Energy

3 credits · Undergraduate

This course explores the ways that humans have exploited various sources of energy and fuels in the past, and the implications of the dramatic increase in the total amount of energy used by society. It considers the consequences of the transition from organic forms of energy, such as muscles and wood, to mineral forms of energy, such as coal, oil, and uranium. The course addresses how new technologies, higher standards of living, changing modes of production, and environmental transformations made this pattern of energy use possible, and contextualizes the growth in energy consumption within narratives of colonization, state formation, urbanization, industrialization, rapid population growth, and wealth accumulation.