Fossil capital : the rise of steam-power and the roots of global warming / Andreas Malm.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Malm, Andreas, 1977- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Industries--Energy consumption--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Industries.

Industrial revolution--Environmental aspects--Great Britain.

Industrial revolution.

Steam-engines--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Steam-engines.

Fossil fuels--Economic aspects--History.

Fossil fuels.

Energy policy--Environmental aspects--History.

Energy policy.

Global warming--History.

Global warming.

Climatic changes--History.

Climatic changes.

History.

Energy policy--Environmental aspects.

Fossil fuels--Economic aspects.

Industries--Energy consumption.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

488 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; Brooklyn, NY : Verso, 2016.

Summary:

"How capitalism first promoted fossil fuels with the rise of steam power The more we debate about the catastrophic implications of climate change, the more fossil fuels we continue to burn. How did we get caught up in this mess? In this masterful new history, Malm claims that it all began in Britain with the rise of steam power. So why did manufacturers turn from traditional fuels, notably water, to steam? Overturning established theories of the transition and offering a radically new view of our warming world, this study shows how steam was adopted as a superior source of power. Two centuries later, the inheritors of that power continue to profit from "business as usual," as the world heads toward irreversible catastrophe. Malm examines the history of resistance to fossil fuels and surveys the obstacles to the transition to renewable energy so urgently needed today. Then as now, energy choices are determined in struggles over power"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 In the Heat of the Past: Towards a History of the Fossil Economy 1

2 Scarcity, Progress, the Nature of the Human Species? Theories of the Rise of Steam 20

3 The Long Life of the Flow: Industrial Energy Before Coal 37

4 "There Are Mighty Energies in those Masses': Mobilising Power in a Time of Crisis 58

5 Puzzles of the Transition: The Lasting Advantages of Water 77

6 Fleeing the Flowing Commons: The Expansion of Waterpower That Never Happened 96

7 A Ticket to the Town: Advantages of Steam in Space 121

8 A Force to Count On: Advantages of Steam in Time 165

9 'No Government but Fuel': The Derivation of Power from Coal in Bourgeois Ideology 194

10 'Go and Stop the Smoke!': The Moment of Resistance against Steam 223

11 A Long Trail of Smoke: The Fossil Economy Consummated 249

12 The Myth of the Human Enterprise: Towards a Different Theory 255

13 Fossil Capital: The Energy Basis of Bourgeois Property Relations 279

14 China as Chimney of the World: Fossil Capital Today 327

15 A Return to the Flow? Obstacles to the Transition 367

16 Time to Pull the Plugs: On CO₂ as an Effluent of Power 389.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 399-468) and index.

ISBN:

9781784781293

1784781290

1784781320

9781784781323

OCLC:

900912182

Online:

Cover image