Historical Patterns of Energy Consumption – Essay
The levels of energy consumption had remained confined to bare necessities and the possibilities of surplus retention were very limited. Most of the demands for energy by these societies were available in the form of food procurable locally.It was with the growth of agriculture on the one hand and the domestication of animals on the other hand that the need for newer sources of energy arose and the consumption of energy multiplied.The most important change was in the basic source of energy: manpower was gradually replaced, first by the power of draught animals. Donkey-driven mills were employed as early as the fifth century BC to crush ore from the silver mines at Laurion, and their use had extended to the grinding of corn in Greece by about 300 BC. Image…