Research On The Change Of British Energy Service

Energy as an integral part is vital to economic and social development, and with regards to contemporary concerns, such as energy security, resource exhaustion, environmental pollution, climate change, etc., energy consumption has been causing a lot of problems, challenging the sustainable growth of human society and national economy. Therefore scholar research in energy transition has become a heated topic. And thus, what has driven and will drive energy transition?This paper argues that such transition is linked to desire and consumption, in so as human society mainly utilize energy service, i.e. heat, power, and light, which are also known as desired and useful energy. The quality, quantity and cost of energy service ultimately determine whole society’s energy choice, driving the transition of primary energy.Britain is the first nation accomplishing transition to fossil energy, holding unique experience, deserving exploration. Given what has been said above, this paper in such macro context of energy transition, from a long-run perspective, explores the evolution of heat, power and light in terms of quantity, quality and cost in U.K.Introduction part focuses on the significance of energy service, long-run, transition, explaining the theme of this paper. Chapter one outlines transition of heat in U.K., pointing the shift of heating mode from traditional one to modern one, with a time span from late medieval times to modern one of19and20th century. Such transition includes two sectors, domestic and industrial, both shifting from wood heating mode to fossil one exemplifying in coal use, though the pathway to such transition distinct. Domestic one changed from limited wood to coal, involving the reform of building pattern, forming coal-chimney heating mode. The vast demand of energy consumption center, under the increasing pressure of wood heating cost, through collective invention, completing such transition, then spreading across whole country. Industrial one preceded domestic in transition, however until18th C.E. some key sections had not completed, and prominent one is iron production. Due to the advantage of coal heating and related technological progress, up to that time, it also achieved such transition. After coal heating mode gained dominant role in domestic and industrial sectors, its quality, efficiency and cost have been improved. Chapter two concerns the transition of power, stressing on the historical evolution of power pattern. In late Medieval and Early Modern times, Britain mainly relied on muscular power, including human and animal. As industrial growth gained strength, water and wind having an increasing share in power pattern. Such pattern ultimately rely on land, thus not affording sufficient power supply and leading to rising trend of cost. However, as economy and population grow, with increasing demand for power, and with in heating area coal production stimulating and guaranteeing the market of steam power, its share in power pattern increase from18th C.E., and up to mid-19th C.E. gained a dominant share.Then electric power follows, while guaranteeing quantity, also having high quality, as achieving cost edge over steam, rapidly replacing the former one, thus it shifted to a indirect power. Steam and electric power have a mutual supportive relationship, therefore power pattern is still based on coal. In the ensuing time, through electrification of power, leading to a competitive power fuel pattern, consisting of nuclear, coal-burning, water, wind, etc.Chapter three explains the historical evolution of lighting in terms of its change of fuel and means. Until18th C.E., U.K. used biological material as fuel, mainly including candle and oil lamps, thus implying primitiveness of lighting means. The limited supply of biological fuel and backwardness of lighting means both impeded the improvement of lighting cost and efficiency, ultimately leading to limited lighting consumption. From then on, efficiency of biological lighting had been improved, thus increase in its consumption and fall in cost. Up to19th C.E. in the context of macro energy transition, as population and economy grow to a high level, which means a vast demand for energy service, gas and kerosene began to achieve an increasing key role in lighting market. And both two lighting fuels and means have prominent advantage in quality and efficiency, therefore leading to rapid expansion of consumption. In19th and20th C.E. gas had hold a dominant role in lighting market, and electric follow its fashion, demonstrating great similarity in their separate development, thus up to mid-20th C.E. the former was completely replaced by latter one.Chapter four outlines common trends about the above mentioned, respectively in two sense of energy service supply and consumption, pointing the trend of fall in cost and increase in consumption, and then explains energy supply and technology drive cost downward, together with population and economy growth stimulating consumption, ultimately causing consumption behavior of energy service to shift, completing macro energy transition.