Man likes to be warm, infact he needs warmth to survive. There is nothing nicer than feeling the warmth of the sun on a nice sunny morning. Plants also need the warmth and light from the sun to grow. Heat then is part of our very existence. When it is cold we automatically put on extra layers of clothing or turn on the heating to put us back in our comfort zone but before the days of central heating life was very different. Welcome to the history of fuel energy!

Amongst the first fossil fuels to be burnt for warmth and to cook with was animal dung, wood and vegetation residues. Even today there are still some remote areas in the world where people use this method for their survival.

Early Fossil Fuels in Britain

Moving on from the use of these initial fuels, civilisations that existed during the bronze age (2000 BC - 3000 BC) started to use coal. Evidence from this period can be found at Heronbridge, near Chester, Fenlands & the Midlands. Further remains of the use of coal has been traced back to the time of the Roman settlements (AD100 - AD200) and also In Northumberland it can be traced back to AD400 from villas and soldiers forts

1st Underground Mines

Although coal was being used at this time it really didn't play a predominant role in fuel useage. It's importance improved slightly by the time of the middle ages when underground mining first developed in the 13th century. The mines were entered either by dropping down through a shaft or entering the mine through large cave entrances

China on the other hand started using coal 10,000 years ago.

Early use of coal in America

At the same time that coal was beginning to gain in importance in England the Hopi Indians in America were using it for cooking their clay pots. Not much more was heard about coal in the USA until it was rediscovered in 1673 by explorers. The first commercial mine opened in Virginia in 1740.

Meanwhile coal had grown to become of major importance during the 1700's when it was realised that it would burn hotter and cleaner than charcoal or wood and when finally James Watt built his first steam engine the Industrial Revolution was born. Life changed forever as it was realised that using massive machinery, instead of just people to make things production would increase, time would be saved and bring about an increase in wealth. Many new industries sprung up as massive foundries were created that allowed huge shipping, and locomotives to be built and assembled as well as many other industries. Towns built up around the enormous factories as people moved from the rural areas to work in them.

Many fell victim to illness and disease not least because of the toxic fumes, carbon dioxide & methane gas that bathed the air from burning coal

In the USA steam powered railroad became the main mode of transport and then in the 1800's coal played an important role during the Civil War as it was used to replace charcoal in firing up large iron blast furnaces to make steel for weapons and in 1880 it first began to be used to generate electricity for domestic and commercial properties.

Because the smoke created from burning coal was found to have such a serious effect upon the atmosphere, causing smog, leading to many deaths domestic smoke controls were put into place during the 1950's. These included the introduction of smoke-free coal to be used in domestic properties, moving power stations to rural areas and increasing the height of the cooling towers so that acid rain would not affect the local populated towns.

Over the years England has seen a massive decline in the use of coal and the industry has almost died out as gas, oil, and nuclear power were introduced.

Even though we know how dangerous burning coal is the useage for cheap coal has steadily increased and according to the International Energy Association world demand has risen during 2002 - 2006 by 22%. This rise has come about as the major industries of China, India and Russia have dramatically increased their production. In fact China is now the largest coal producing nation. America and Europe have also increased their coal consumption to counteract the rising costs of natural gas, and to slow down the need for new power plant replacements.

The usage of coal for 2006 was a total of 6.2 billion tonnes

2.38 billion tonnes - China

1.053 billion tonnes - USA

447.3 million tonnes - India

According the the WWF climatic expert the toxins of carbon dioxide, methane gas, uranium, thorium and acid rain that burning coal produces is going to have a devistating cost on wild life every where and on society as a whole. Coal is the worst dirty fossil fuel that there is. This is follwed by oil and then gas. Again according to the International Energy Agency - 2006 its predictions to future climate changes in China are that there will be a 37% decrease in yields of the following crops: corn, rice & wheat. A 30% decline in rainfall coupled with increases in sea levels by as much as 1m causing devistating flooding.

India has already seen increases of heat waves and increases in serious floods in the last few years which are having a devistating effect upon the lives and economy of the nation.

There are no shortages of options for cleaner fuels that can be used today to try and reverse the trend of what is happening. If we were to stop using coal and take up the new technologies of solar, wind turbine no carbon biodigradable and hydrogen fuels we would be saving the world for our children. Some of these technologies are no more expensive than coal but environmentally they are way cheaper than keeping on using coal.

We can all do our bit to help reduce the amount of energy that we use i.e washing at lower temperatures, turning off unnecessary electrical equipment that isn't being used, change the type of light bulbs that we use, reuse items or give them away instead of throwing them away and inexpensively converting our vehicles to hybrids with hydrogen fuel technology. This converts vehicles to run on water as well as gas, can be installed by anyone and at the same time help you to make great savings on the amount of gas that you use as well as having cleaner exhausts and a cleaner engine. This technology costs very little and uses very little water.