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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Coal Question | 3/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Coal_Question | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T08:38:14.856245+00:00 | kb-cron |
The ignorance, improvidence, and brutish drunkenness of our lower working classes must be dispelled by a general system of education, which may effect for a future generation what is hopeless for the present generation. One preparatory and indispensable measure, however, is a far more general restriction on the employment of children in manufacture. At present it may almost be said to be profitable to breed little slaves and put them to labour early, so as to get earnings out of them before they have a will of their own. A worse premium upon improvidence and future wretchedness could not be imagined.
== Global developments after Jevons == As Jevons predicted, coal production could not grow exponentially forever. UK production peaked in 1913, and the country lost its global superiority to a new giant of energy production, the United States, a turn of events that was also predicted by Jevons. The UK had by then developed oil resources in the Middle East and increasingly used the fuel for power generation. Although UK production could not continue to grow at the annual rate of 3.5%, the world's fossil fuel consumption did grow at this rate until about 1970. According to Jevons, UK coal production in 1865 was estimated as being equal to production in the rest of the world, giving a rough world estimate of 200 million tons. According to the US Department of Energy, global fossil fuel consumption in 1970 was 200 Quad BTU, or 7.2 billion tons coal equivalent. Thus, consumption grew by a factor of 36, representing average annual exponential growth over 105 years of about 3.4%. In the 34 subsequent years, to 2004, consumption grew by a factor of 2.1, or 2.2% per year, an indication, according to organizations such as ASPO that global energy resources are thinning. The quantity of the world's remaining energy resources is a matter of dispute and serious concern. Between 2005 and 2007, despite the trebling of oil prices, oil production remained relatively flat, a sign according to many that oil production has peaked. Studies by Dave Rutledge of the California Institute of Technology, and by the Energy Watch Group of Germany indicate that global coal production will also peak within the current generation, perhaps as soon as 2030. A parallel study by the Energy Watch Group also indicates the limited supply of uranium; this report states that like UK coal production 200 years ago, the production of uranium has first targeted high quality ores, and remaining sources are less dense and more difficult to access. Fetter states that at least 230 years of proven uranium reserves are available at present worldwide rates of consumption, and using uranium extraction from seawater, up to 60,000 years of uranium are available. Further, using advanced breeder reactors and nuclear reprocessing, the 230 years of proven uranium reserves may be extended up to 30,000 years; similar gains are achievable from the 60,000 years of uranium reserves from seawater.
== Editions == Jevons, William Stanley (1865). The coal question; An inquiry concerning the progress of the nation, and the probable exhaustion of our coal mines (1 ed.). London & Cambridge: Macmillan & Co. Jevons, William Stanley (1866). The coal question; An inquiry concerning the progress of the nation, and the probable exhaustion of our coal mines (2 ed.). London: Macmillan & Co. Jevons, William Stanley (29 August 2023) [1866]. "The coal question; An inquiry concerning the progress of the nation, and the probable exhaustion of our coal mines". In Hough, Peter (ed.). British politics and the environment in the long nineteenth century. Vol. 1 (2 ed.). Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003194651-18 (inactive 9 August 2025). ISBN 978-1-03-204784-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2025 (link)
== See also == Coal phase out Thomas Malthus The Limits to Growth UK environmental law UK enterprise law
== References ==
== Sources == Malthus, An Essay On The Principle Of Population (1798 1st edition) with A Summary View (1830), and Introduction by Professor Antony Flew. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-043206-X. Joel E. Cohen, How Many People Can the Earth Support?, 1995, W. W. Norton & Company. Howard Bucknell III. Energy and the National Defense, 1981, University of Kentucky Press William Catton, Overshoot, 1982, University of Illinois Press. Mathis Wackernagel, Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth, 1995, New Society Publishers. Tim Flannery, The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australian Lands and People, 2002, Grove Press. Michael Williams, Deforesting the Earth: From Prehistory to Global Crisis, 2002, University of Chicago Press. Garrett Hardin, The Ostrich Factor: Our Population Myopia, 1999, Oxford University Press. Walter Youngquist, Geodestinies: The Inevitable Control of Earth Resources over Nations & Individuals, 1997, National Book Company. Heinberg, Richard. Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World, 2004, New Society Publishers. Kunstler, James Howard. The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of the Oil Age, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century, 2005, Atlantic Monthly Press. Odum, Howard T. and Elisabeth C. A Prosperous Way Down: Principles and Policies, 2001, University Press of Colorado. Stanton, The rapid growth of human populations 1750–2000, 2003. Bartlett, A., Scientific American and the Silent Lie, 2004 Meadows et al., Limits to Growth: The 30-year Update, 2004. Diamond, Jared, Collapse, 2005.