The subterranean forest: energy systems and the industrial revolution

The historical transition from the agrarian solar energy regime to the use of fossil energy has fuelled the industrial transformation of the last 200 years. The author argues that the analysis of historical energy systems provides an explanation for different social formations because availability of free energy is the framework within which socio-metabolic processes can take place. This explains why the Industrial Revolution began in Britain, where coal was readily available and firewood already depleted or difficult to transport, whereas Germany, with its huge forests next to rivers, was much longer dependent on a traditional solar energy regime. An earlier version of this landmark text was published in German in 1982. It has been thoroughly revised and updated by the author and now appears in English for the first time.