ABSTRACT
In recent years historians have ‘discovered’ energy. What was once considered to be the exclusive domain of physicists, chemists, ecologists, economists, engineers, mechanics and technicians is now increasingly being picked up by social and human scientists as well. The gradual and repeated mastery of energy and matter is interpreted as the successive sport on the ladder in the ‘big history’ of civilisation. Energy transitions, needless to say, played a pivotal role in both the agricultural and industrial revolutions, and were even key to understanding the successive demographic developments in the history of the world's population. The association between energy and economic growth has been studied explicitly in a vast range of economic literature that developed during the second half of the twentieth century. The seemingly trivial nature of domestic energy practices often hides from view the subtle processes of change that occurred in this domain.
