Prologue: The Roots of the Anthropocene and Energy Stratification

PART 1: A Chronicle of Humanity Through Energy

Chapter 1 In the Beginning There Was the Sun
Amsterdam, the world's first high-tech city
tame fire
The agricultural revolution brought about by skilled energy utilization
Overcoming physical limitations with new technologies
Animal power, replacing human labor
Modernizing agriculture using wind and water
A market is formed
Power-driven industries sprout
The wave of industrialization that began in Europe
Going Global with Wind Power

PART 2: The Encounter of East and West Brought About by the Energy Transition

Chapter 2 Wind Energy and the Age of Exploration
The era of trade that began with sailing ships
The Great Reversal of Europe, Brought About by Cultural Differences
Technologies that ushered in the Age of Exploration
Weapons become tools of international trade
Trade begins across the Atlantic
Slave ships transport human labor
Plantation agriculture grew through slave labor
All things lead to a port
Development of fishing industry using wind power
Fierce competition surrounding the whaling industry
Energy transition triggered by war

Chapter 3: Fossil Fuels Usher in the Age of Industrialization
The birth of coal, the starting point of the Industrial Revolution
The emergence of new energy sources and innovative technologies
The obstacle disappeared
A great transformation is taking place
Scientists who predicted the greenhouse effect
The steam engine established an industrial system
America's Expansion Begins with Anthracite Coal
The emergence of those who 'have' energy

Chapter 4: The Era of Popular Energy Begins
Lucifer Matches, Bringing Light to Everyday Life
The synergy effect of the combination of telecommunications and railways
The magic of the railroad that began in the American West
A new agricultural system: the grain elevator
The Columbian Exposition, a symbol of the era
Passenger ships open the golden gates of immigration.
The revolution brought about by Edison's light bulb
Hydropower Strengthens National Competitiveness
Oil determines agricultural productivity
The culmination of innovative technology, the skyscraper
Technology that created a new world of escape from everyday life
The oil industry fostered by the Rockefeller family
Development of automobiles that utilize various fuels
The formation of a petroleum-based automobile industry
Conspicuous consumption started with cheap oil

PART 3: The Age of Energy Wars

Chapter 5: Black Gold: Light and Shadow in the Oil Age
Coal Station, Borneo Island
Oil Becomes a Strategic Tool for the Great Powers
War and the Emergence of a New Energy System
The oil war for national security
Conflicts caused by unfair resource distribution
The war that eventually broke out
Building new supply chains and pipelines
Reassessing the Middle East, a Battleground in the Oil Wars

Chapter 6 Two Faces of Energy
The tragedy of the Ukrainian Red Forest
The nuclear age began with the bomb
Potential risks of nuclear power
The political utility of hydropower
The energy policy that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union
Another disaster for the oil industry: plastics
From the Cold War to the Age of Resource Wars

Chapter 7 The Haves vs. The Have-Nots
Those who have not
A New Perspective on Automotive Efficiency
OPEC and the Weaponization of Oil
The crisis facing American consumer culture
America in a trap
Strategic Petroleum Reserves and Oil Security
A world connected by transportation networks
The Light and Shadow of Urbanization
Internationalization of automobiles by road
Efforts to regulate and reduce exhaust emissions
Green Revolution and Food Science
The Rise of Third World Oil Dictators
A fierce war to secure oil
The Great Migration for Oil
The widening energy gap

PART 4 ​​For the Era of Sustainable Energy

Chapter 8: Efforts and Controversies for Energy Transition
The war that started in the Arctic
New Energy Plan, Energiewende
The irony of the crude oil ecosystem
New science on exhaust fumes
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Efforts to prevent climate change
The reality of extreme oil supply
An ecological disaster broadcast live
The debate surrounding natural gas
Acknowledging the limits of energy
Elon Musk's claim
China's rapid growth and India's pursuit

Epilogue: The Future of Energy Ahead
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A history of conflict between the haves and have-nots

Jared Diamond said that the history of humanity is “a history of conflict between the haves and the have-nots.”
This book goes a step further, viewing the history of humanity as a process of securing energy, and the history of the 20th century as a conflict between those who had energy and those who did not.


During the period when humans began to live as hunter-gatherers and later developed agriculture using solar energy, each cultural sphere developed in different ways, but there were no significant differences in the methods or levels of energy use.
The decisive factor that brought about this change was the emergence of the 'sailing ship' that utilized wind energy.
The first country to use sailing ships to expand its influence was China.
In the early 1400s, Zheng He's fleet explored India, Arabia, and East Africa before European explorers, incorporating the nations of the Indian Ocean into their tribute system.
However, after the purge, China failed to maintain its national will to expand into the outside world, and fell behind after suffering a 'Great Reversal' from European countries.

On the other hand, European nations armed with new navigational techniques and worldviews in the 1500s found unexpected opportunities as they expanded their power to Africa, the Americas, and even Asia during the Age of Exploration.
In the 16th century, the sea became a vital means of European economic development, and the resources of the New World became a source of military and political power for European nations.
The most striking example of energy exchange during this period was the 'slave ship', which transported human energy to agricultural areas where labor was needed.
Putting aside human rights considerations, from an economic perspective of energy exchange, slave ships soon became equivalent to today's oil tankers.
The series of events that followed, from the Atlantic trade system based on slave labor to the Industrial Revolution, further widened the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots."


Humanity's fierce challenge and competition for energy hegemony

If wind energy ushered in the Age of Exploration and transformed the fate of Europe and China, it was the use of fossil fuels like coal and oil that further accelerated Europe's development, further fueling two world wars in the early 20th century and ultimately determining the dynamics of international relations today.
And the expansion of fossil fuel use in the 20th century elevated the international standing of countries with the necessary resources and technology.


First, the author focused on how human society changed when energy emerged as the most important element of human economic activity.
This book offers a fresh look at how coal, which began as a fuel for new industries in Britain due to a shortage of wood, transformed not only Britain but the entire world from an energy perspective.
In particular, the role played by the Catholic Church and the British royal family in this process, as well as the hidden stories of scientists who predicted air pollution and climate change caused by fossil fuel use at this time, add to the fun of reading.


It also vividly illustrates how all the technologies and inventions we now take for granted were developed based on a new energy source: fossil fuels.
Also of interest is the story of how oil, once a burden on agriculture, emerged as a vital resource for national security, and how the first oil well was discovered in the United States.

Two world wars in the early 20th century brought about a rapid shift to fossil fuels, and the subsequent need to increase the efficiency of weapons and transportation forced the world order to become more oil-dependent.
It is also regrettable that the development of automobiles using various fuels, such as electric vehicles, was halted during the process.
In this book, you can encounter moments in history when we constantly competed and challenged to secure energy, the driving force of human civilization, the rise and fall of modern history surrounding energy hegemony, and the stories behind them.


The Roots of the Anthropocene and Energy Stratification: What Energy Will Rule the Next World?

In a 2000 article in Science, chemist Paul Crutzen argued that the human impact on the environment from the burning of fossil fuels has brought about changes comparable to those caused by erosion and volcanic eruptions, and that the current geological epoch should therefore be called the "Anthropocene."
This makes us reconsider the impact of humanity on the Earth in the 20th century, within the larger global trends of geology and ecology.


The importance of energy became a means of securing economic dominance during the Cold War, and now it has shaped the new structure of the post-Cold War world order.
And since 2000, the importance of energy resources in the world has been highlighted again for both countries with and without the ability to secure energy, as energy supplies have decreased or transitioned to new energy sources.
Amid this trend, China's icebreakers are heading to Antarctica to seize the remaining opportunities of the fossil fuel era, and Russia is once again focusing its attention on the Arctic Ocean.


However, with the advancement of science, computer modeling, data collection through carbon dating, and satellite imagery, humanity is now forced to face the undeniable reality of climate change, and is now faced with the inevitable need to transition to energy for a sustainable future.
In this series of events, the final competition for fossil fuels is intensifying, while the transition to new energy sources is accelerating, and the world is entering a period of turbulent change surrounding energy.
A world where energy transition determines the fate of nations is already upon us.
In that sense, this book will serve as an important opportunity to examine the flow of the international order surrounding the energy transition and to reconsider the future of humanity that the future of energy will change.