Its funny how history seems to run in cycles. What we now call renewable energy, although trendy at the moment, has actually been around since the beginning of time. The use of fossil fuels is actually the new kid on the block, but we have become so dependent on it, that it seems as though life couldnt go on without it. This is not to negate the very real need for renewable energy, its only indicative of the fact that most of us just are not aware of the long renewable energy history. Renewed interest in renewable energy is due to the dwindling availability of fossil fuel and the harm it is doing to our environment. Renewable energy is not a new answer to an old problem; rather, renewable energy is an old answer to a new problem.
Renewable Energy History - A Brief Timeline
The birth of the sun Approximately 4.5 Billion B.C.
The sail inveneted by Ancient Egyptions (wind energy) 3200 B.C.
China invents windmill 200 B.C.
Middle East uses windmills 1000 A.D.
Architecture Hydraulique (treatise on water power) published in France 1774
Edmond Becquerel discovers relationship between absorbed sunlight and electricity 1839
First Hydroelectric Plant, Appleton Wisconsin - 1882
Clarence Kemp invents first solar water heater 1891
25% of power supplied by hydroelectricity in Untied States 1920
Putnam builds wind turbine (interest suspended due to war effort) 1941
United States, under Pres. Jimmy Carter seeks solution to energy cirisis 1970s
Pres. Ronald Regan halts incentives for solar energy 1981
Global Wind Energy Council, Brussels. Belgium 2005
It is easy to see that the renewable energy history is long and varied in that it was not localized to any one region of the world. There has always been a keen interest in ways to produce power, however, since fossil fuels were much easier to utilize, interest in renewable interest took a back seat.
A New Era in History
Within the past half century, or so, the tables have turned and there is an ever-increasing emphasis on renewable energy and all that it has to offer. Although the history of renewable energy dates back to the creation of the universe, it is as though mankind is seeing it for the first time. At the very least, we are seeing renewable energy from a new perspective. It may not be as easy to produce and distribute as fossil fuels are, but it is a cleaner, never-ending source that cannot be used as a negotiating tactic between nations at odds with each other. At some point, in the not too distant future, the history books will need to be rewritten, wherein fossil fuels become archaic and renewable energy is an everyday feature.
As is always the case, history is cyclic and this fact is never more evidenced as it is in terms of renewable energy. Mankind is on the brink of a new era that will bring with it and endless supply of power that carries with in minimal negative impact on the planet. Prescious resources wont be depleted and nations might be led to seeking more productive peaceful negotiations instead of underhanded bargaining ploys. It wont be Utopia, but it wont be a bitter end either.
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