From the library picked up a book about Coal. Most of us know that coal supplies us electricity but few of us know much about the mineral. In the book Coal – A Human History by Barbara Freese published by Penguin Books, NY, 2003 tells the readers about the history of coal.

Coal is important for what comes out of it: enough energy to change the world profoundly. For billions of years, almost every life form on earth depended on its existence on energy fresh from the sun, on the “solar energy” arriving daily from outer space or temporarily stored in living things. Plants capture sunshine and convert it into chemical energy that animals can eat, the energy not converted is stored. Animals eating plants take that stored energy into their bodies in a concentrated form and disperse it throughout the lands. Life on earth is a vast and sophisticated system for capturing, converting, storing and moving solar energy. The evolution of each species depends on how well it taps into that system.

In one of first chapters, coal is easily found in England and thus an English story. After fire was invented people used what was around them and generally it was trees. As the population increased, the number of trees or the ability of the trees to grow and be useful firewood diminished greatly. It was either pay more or find an alternative and the alternative turnout to be coal. Coal was easily found in Newcastle (about 5 hours north of London). The coal was exposed, the seams were good and thick and it was above the water lines. Newcastle has a port and soon ships were going from Newcastle to London.

This is where the story gets interesting – King Henry VIII wanted a son to continue the family as being King of the country. His wife had given him a daughter, but succession rights went only to males. At the time, the religion of England was Catholic, however the religion has a no divorce policy. Henry decided to change religion of the country to one which allowed divorce and The Church of England was formed. In addition, the Church of England took over the lands of the Catholic Church which was 20% of the lands of England bringing in rents three times that of the government. Some of the lands were in Newcastle where the church owned many of the coal-bearing lands. In the next 5 years, the land was transferred to the Church of England who either sold it or leased much of the lands to merchants. The merchants were eager to find ways to profit from coal.

Soon coal was the number one method to heat homes (which lead to increased air pollution) In addition the merchants were continually trying to find ways to drive down costs through the use of technology. Newcomen and Watt’s steam engines are invented for this reason. This has the effect of starting the industrial revolution – changing coal into motion and heat.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, government whims and policy change things, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. If the Catholic Church had given an exception to Henry maybe England would be a Catholic country and the Church would have kept their lands. It is rare for a country to confiscate another’s lands without on going repercussions. In this case, the changing of the lands gave rise to a merchant class and eventually the industrial revolution which made England the most powerful nation in the world until the end of the 19th century.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.