History of Energy

Since the beginning of the old man's life, our main needs have not changed from heating, transportation, manufacturing and lighting, but our way of meeting these needs has changed in terms of the necessary energy sources. At first, humans used solar energy and burned wood and straw around it for heating. Coal was also used for heating and for the conversion of iron into steel. In terms of transportation, man has used some animals to help him travel on the road like camels and horses. He also relied on the force of the wind that was helping to sail to travel between the continents of the world. Both wind energy and water energy were harnessed to produce the energy needed for windmills and waterwheels. Mills were used to grind grain, while barley was used to pump water for agriculture. In order to increase the power of hydropower, the dams were built to hold the water and thus increase its pumping.

The major shift in energy production began in the mid-18th century when the world's New Comin invented the modern model of steam engine. James Watt then developed that invention and here began the industrial revolution. The defining point of the Industrial Revolution was in 1880, when the coal-fired steam engine powered the first generator at the Thomas Edison plant.

By the end of the 19th century, a new source of fuel, oil, had been reached. By the end of that century, oil had turned into fuel to help run internal combustion engines. They have also become the most important commodity for lighting and lamps, especially with the decline of the whale oil industry. With the spread of electricity, our use of energy has changed dramatically. Power plants became larger and larger until many electricity generation dams were built and power connections between cities and electricity were delivered to rural areas.

By 1950, nuclear emissions were used to generate electricity for the first time, but demand for nuclear power was not increased as other sources because of the cost and risk of production. The production of oil between 1880 and 1990 increased about 300 times and the production of gas doubled in the same period about 1000 times.   In addition to the increasing needs and complexity of mankind, in addition to the increasing problems of environmental pollution, global warming, greenhouse gases caused by fossil fuel combustion, and many other concerns about the lack of access to the remaining energy sources, scientists are struggling today to access other sources and apply their future investment near.