ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 focuses on the transition from human and animal labor to wood as a more efficient fuel source. It provided opportunities for the invention of machines that could dwarf the human–animal potential for energy creation. While people today tend to see energy transformation and creation in terms of “revolutions,” this energy transition took centuries. In spite of the commonly held assumptions about energy and the Industrial Revolution, the invention of machines for manufacturing and industry were not run on coal. Wood-powered engines built the factories and mills that housed machines and wheels that harnessed the kinetic energy of rivers and the vanes that caught the energy of winds.
