ABSTRACT
In sixteenth-century England, the introduction of grates for burning coal and chimneys to externalize emissions enabled households in urban areas to switch from woodfuels to coal. The experience of the 1300s suggests that woodfuel prices would have increased a great deal further in the sixteenth century (above £300 in 2000 values) without the slow transition towards coal for residential heating demands (Fouquet, 2010). Similarly, in a number of industries, methods were developed to use coal rather than charcoal – although it took until the eighteenth century for adequate and affordable techniques to be developed in the large iron industry.
