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Energy transitions and
BY A N T H O N Y J. A H E R N
IN 1800, WOOD WAS our nation’s main source of energy. Wood
1 provided about 0.5 quads that year. At the beginning of the Civil War,
total U.S. energy use increased to about 3 quads, of which 2.5 quads
came from wood and 0.5 from a new fuel — coal. In 1885, just after
the Brooklyn Bridge was completed, the westward expansion of
railroads had pushed coal use to equal that of wood. Each provided
about 50 percent of the nation’s total energy use of 5.4 quads.
In 1920 shortly after WWI, the U.S. was using about 20 quads. Coal
had surged to 15.5 quads; wood had slipped to 1.6 quads; and two new
energy sources had arrived. Oil provided 1.7 quads and natural gas 0.7
quads. In 1945 at the end of WWII, the U.S. was using about 31 quads.
Coal provided 16 quads, but oil had grown to 10 quads. Natural gas
provided 4 quads; wood accounted for 1.3 quads; and hydroelectric
power provided 1.3 quads.
Post-WWII, the U.S. economy took off. By 2009, energy use was
100 quads. Coal had risen to 35 quads, and natural gas had grown to
23 quads, surpassing oil’s 20 quads. Wood was 2 quads; hydroelectric
power, 1.3 quads; and nuclear power, 8.4 quads.
Notice that it took decades for our energy supply to transition to
new sources. All of the energy transitions of the past 200-plus years
share a common characteristic: New energy sources were better than
the old in some unique way. Often the new source did not necessarily
eliminate other sources but added to overall supply. Sometimes
governmental involvement was instrumental in the early development
of a new energy source. Nuclear power is a good example.
But it was acceptance of the new energy sources by the private
market, based on economic beneﬁts or technical superiority
(electricity), that propelled growth. Our federal government today is
playing a huge advocacy role in the expansion of wind and solar power.
I’m all for the government funding R&D, especially regarding energy.
But it appears that the power and money of the federal government is
being used to “manage” the next energy transition.
Meeting our nation’s future needs is too important to the welfare of
our economy for the government to supplant the role of the market in
choosing energy options.
1 A quad is a unit of energy equal to 1 quadrillion (1015) British thermal units (BTU). The quad is a
convenient unit for describing energy resources. One quad is also equal to 183 million barrels of
petroleum, 38.5 million tons of coal, or 980 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
2 COUNTRY LIVING
• APRIL 2013
Volume 55, No. 7
www.ohioruralelectric.coop Anthony Ahern
President & CEO
Dir. of Comm.
Art & Prod. Manager
COUNTRY LIVING (ISSN 0747-0592) is the
official publication of Ohio Rural Electric Co-
operatives, Inc. With a paid circulation of
294,786, it is the monthly communication
link between the rural elec tric cooperatives in
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Subscription price: $4.30 to $6.50 per year
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Serving on the Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc., Board of
Trustees are George Brake, chairman; Dennis W. Schindler, vice
chairman; Jack Schmidt, secretary/treasurer; Stephen Huff, Paul
Berridge, Thomas McQuiston, Robert McCort, Donald McCracken,
Jack L. Kitchel, Daniel McNaull, Robert E. Wise, Shirley J. Stutz,
David Corbin, Barry Jolliff, Warren Taylor, James R. McConnell, Eu-
gene Royer, Mitch Headley, John Saxton, Edward P. Sanders,
Harold E. Cooper, Larry Weirich, Jeff Wilson and David P. Miller.
Anthony J. Ahern, president; Kurt Helfrich, counsel.