31 OCTOBER 2020

THE EVOLUTION
OF ENERGY
Technological Institute of Veracruz / María Fernanda Uscanga
Tenorio

ABSTRACT
The three main elements to guarantee human survival are energy, water and food. Although
today the energies have been developed and improved, the physical principle remains the
same as it was years ago, which is the oxidation of carbon compounds at the time of breaking
their chemical bonds. The difference between the energy systems of our ancestors with the
modern ones consists mainly in that previously organic vegetable sources were exploited
while today the energy sources are mainly fossil sources, which has become the basis of the
world economy. Another big difference between the main sources of energy of the past
decades and the energy sources of today, is the way in which these are obtained and
produced, plant energy sources are converted into work by biological converters, while
sources fossils are transformed thanks to mechanical converters.

Keywords: Energy, developed, fossil sources, biomass, world economy, renewable

energies.

INTRODUCTION
As human beings, we are in a constant cycle nological, geological and human
of changes, it is a natural process in which developments, that means that energy can be
the earth receives solar energy to release it considered as a universal bargaining chip just
later. For at least three and a half billion because of energy represents at least 10% of
years there has been human life on earth, demand in economies. Energy is the cause of
thereby causing an evolution in the way each and every one of the stages of
energy is used (Price, 1995). evolution, industrialization and civilization,
Energy can be described historically as chro- also is presented in various forms: electro-
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magnetic, electrical, magnetic, nuclear, energy, it is there where renewable energies

chemical, thermal, mechanical, as well as all and their high impact begin (Zou, et al.,
the renewable energies (Kostic, 2015; 2016).
Malanima, 2014).

TWO DIFFERENT EPOCH

IN ENERGY
It is estimated that at the end of the 20th
century, the energy consumption worldwide
was 50,000 kcal per day, that is, about 76GJ
per year. Of the 100% of energy consumed,
80% of that energy was organic fossil sources
such as coal, oil and natural gas. Of the
Fig. 1. Renewable energies (Torres y remaining 20%, 6% of the energy consumed
Bandala, 2014).
was nuclear energy, 2% was hydroelectricity,
magnetic, electrical, magnetic, nuclear, while the remaining 12% of energy consumed
chemical, thermal, mechanical, as well as all was based on biomass, that is, organic plant
the renewable energies (Kostic, 2015; sources. The history of humanity and energy
Malanima, 2014). can first be divided into two main epochs: (1)
The energy system in the world has had The first epoch is considered from the birth
several benefits although it also has of the human species until about 5 centuries
disadvantages, such as the climate change ago, which is considered as the early modern
that is produced thanks to the accumulation age, while that, (2) the second epoch is the
of carbon dioxide, as well as greenhouse history of the last 500 years, where energy
gases in the atmosphere, which are caused by had a more remarkable development as well
human activity (Teske, et al., 2012). as it is the epoch where there was a higher
Even thought, energy can be considered as energy consumption (Beretta, 2017;
a concern because of the impact that it has Malanima, 2014).
on the consumption of energy on the In the first epoch, the main source of energy
environment, especially the impact it has was biomass, considering animal fodder and
had over the last two centuries (Malanima, firewood, at this time energy was scare and it
2014). was considered expensive, but it had a great
Energy development in the world requires advantage, the environmental changes had a
a new historical period, which is based on considerable influence to help the
the requirement of clean and low carbon availability of this biomass. While in the se-
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cond epoch biomass was replaced by fossil the input of Food was transformed into
sources, these being the main sources of work, while the other 80% was used to
energy (Malanima, 2014). support the metabolism of the animal, which
was spread to the environment in the form of
heat and waste (Malanima, 2014).

PRE-INDUSTRIAL ERA For the second stage, fire was discovered,

this being the primary result in the history of
Environmental historians have created energy, fire is used mainly to obtain heat, but
various stages of energy in human history, also to heat, cook, illuminate, among other
these stages are divided according to the things, in short, fire it is a key process for the
biomass used to obtain and produce energy. development of the ecosystem and human
The three main sources of energy at the end life. It has its origins due to plants, since
of the 18th century were 3 different types of these are responsible for two of the three
biomass, said biomass was changing main elements for fire to originate: oxygen
according to the age in which it was and fuel, while the third element is a source
discovered and developed. This is why of heat. In the Paleozoic era, the oxygenated
historians differentiate 3 stages during this atmosphere was capable of supporting fire,
century, in the first stage the main source of however, thanks to the lack of fuels from
energy was food, in the second stage the terrestrial plants, this restricted the
biomass was firewood and in the last stage probabilities of fire, it was during the
the biomass developed was the forage of the Mesozoic era that fire became increasingly
animals of work (Malanima, 2014; important (Pausas y Keeley, 2009).
Valavanidis y Vlachogianni, 2013). During the Mesolithic age, the third stage
In the first stage, which was at the beginning was carried out, due to the end of the ice
of the human species, about 5-7 million years ages and thanks to the increase in
ago the only source of energy was food, at temperature, the human being managed to
this stage the only transformation of biomass increase the cultivation of vegetables and
to obtain heat was metabolism, This cereals. That is why energy in the form of
happened in two ways, the first one was by food increase the cultivation of vegetables
being produced naturally by plants and and cereals, however not all were
vegetables and the second one was by being advantages, due to the spontaneous growth
turned into meat by some animal that was of the population in certain regions of the
consumed by humans. The hyman body was world, the availability of food per habitant
the first machine used to obtain movement was not enough, as well as another
and heat, however the body of an animal can disadvantages was that a cereal based diet
not be used 100% as work, since it is was not entirely healthy, since it represent
estimated that only about 15% and 20% of complications in the health of humans. For
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the years 5,000 to 3,000 BC, agriculture had others, these developments allowed an
a greater and better boom, this was due to increase in human activities, as well as the
the domestication of animals such as oxen, growth of civilization. The industrial age
donkeys, horses and camels to be used in involved many more innovations, as a result
agriculture and as transportation. During this of which the energy supply increased
stage there were various optimizations, significantly and the quality of energy
which allowed a better use of energy, fuels sources improved before those used (Stern y
and animals, in this same stage the use of the Kander, 2010; Kostic, 2015).
first renewable energy source was carried
out, which was the wind (Malanima,2014).
MODERN ERA:
INDUSTRIAL ERA: Social development during the modern era
symbolizes a continuation of the industrial
At the beginning of the industrial era, the era thanks to the development of new
way in which coal was transported for its energies such as nuclear energy, for this era
energy use was thanks to horse carriages, various sources of energy were used
this being very expensive, however thanks to worldwide (Table 1), about 85.7% of
the fact that the most relevant and production Total energy was produced from
representative novelty of this time was the fossil fuels while renewable energies only
manufacture. Since primary engines, which account for 1.4% of total energy production
use heat from fuels, the cost was greatly (Kostic,2015).
reduced, these fuels were a historical fact, as Energy and the environment almost always
energy was stored in fuels such as wood, coal come hand in hand, today our planet faces
and oil, which meant that in any moment and various problems such as lack of food,
the energy of the place was acquired. Much environmental disasters, including global
of the economic growth and opportunities warming, the energy crisis, among others, the
were reflected during this time, thanks to the vast majority of problems before mentioned
abundance of fossil fuels that as well as are closely related to the use of energies
energy independence and natural derived from fossil sources, which generates
phenomena such as waterfalls and wind. At a huge problem with the creation of
this stage, the use of fossil fuels was the most greenhouse gases, which in turn is the effect
predominant source of energy, representing of global warming. Another of the
85% of total energy. Another of the most consequences generated by the population
notable and representative developments of are solid, liquid and gaseous waste which
thistime were internal combustion engines, pollutes water, air and soil the vast majority
electric motor, chemical products, amoung of this waste can be used for the production
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of sustainable bioenergy (Torres y Bandal, geothermal, biomass and solar energy. It is

2014). important to note that some countries such
as Norway, Brazil, New Zaland, Australia and
Switzerland generate most of their
electricity from hydroelectric energy, while
France produces the largest part of its
electrical energy from nuclear energy
(Kostic, 2015).

THE RENEWABLE
ENERGY ERA:
The exponential growth of renewable
energy technologies such as hydroelectric,
wind, solar, geothermal, bioenergy as well as
other emerging renewable energies have had
a greater boom in the last decade
(Ecomagination and the Global Energy
Transformation, 2016).
Renewable energy sources are defined as
sustainable resources that in turn are
FUTURE ERA: available for a long period of time at a lower
cost and that in the same way do not have
At present, as already mentioned above, negative effects on the environment
most of the world's energy consumption is (Alemán-Nava, et al., 2014).
based on fossil fuels, but today the reserves Renewable energy sources range from
of fossil fuels are being limited and it traditional technologies such as wind
continues in the same direction, it is turbines to innovative new technologies
estimated that within after 250 years, the such as hydrogen-based internal combustion
coal will be completely exhausted, while oil engines and hydrogen-based fuel cells
and natural gas remain 60 and 80 years (Balcioglu, Soyer, and El-Shimy, 2017).
respectively. However, new reserves and Biomass-based energy used mainly to cook
technologies are being discovered and and heat certain rural areas presented 9.3%
developed, the use of other renewable of world energy demand in 2011,
energy resources is increasing, such as wind, hydroelectric energy supplied about 3.7% of
 31 OCTOBER 2020

world energy demand, the rest of the per square meter (Alemán-Nava, et al.,
energies Renewables supplied approximately 2014; Vargas-Hernández y Ascencio
6% of the world's energy demand and, in Espinosa, 2016).
turn, have caused rapid growth in various GEOTHERMAL ENERGY in Mexico occupies
developed and developing countries ninth place 4.5% of the total energy used for
(Alemán-Nava, et al., 2014). public service in the country. In Mexico the-

¡Renewable energies are not just a trend, they are

the beginning of a new era!

RENEWABLE ENERGY IN
MEXICO:
From 1982 to 2012, it was recorded that in
Mexico 70.1% of the total energy used was
based on biomass, while solar energy
registered 19.2%, geotermal, wind and
hydroelectric energy registered 4.5%, 4.0%
and 2.2 % respectively (Figure 2) however
not all technologies were previously
investigated in this period of time (Alemán-
Nava, et al., 2014).
SOLAR ENERGY is carried out through the Fig. 2. Renewable energy sources in Mexico
from 1982-2012 Alemán-Nava, et al., 2014).
use of small plates which are called
photovoltaic cells, these are mainly
composed of silicon, which is one of the re are four geothermal fields which are
most abundant elements on earth. Cerro Prieto, Los Azufres, Los Humeros and
Worldwide, Mexico ranks 27th in the Las Tres Vírgenes, these are volcanic fields
development of solar energy, however it is with fluids sheltered by volcanic rocks
among one of the five potential countries to (Hiriart y Gutiérrez-Negrı́n, 2003; Alemán-
invest in the PV system, this is because in Nava, et al., 2014; Flores-Armenta y
Mexico solar radiation is higher than 5kWh Gutiérrez-Negrín, 2011).
 31 OCTOBER 2020

WIND ENERGY is a renewable energy, it is a quires a costly initial investment, however it

profitable solution for the generation of has a very long useful life and relatively low
electricity, since it can achieve a decrease in maintenance costs, hydroelectric energy
negative environmental impacts such as contributes only 2.2% of the total energy
greenhouse gas emissions, the advantages of developed in Mexico (Kumar, 2011; Alemán-
this energy is that it doesn´t produced Nava, et al., 2014).
emission of carbon dioxide, as well as, no BIOMASS is all kinds of organic matter, this
hazardous waste is produced. Wind energy ranges from firewood to vegetables, it can
in Mexico ranks 34 with 4.0% of the total be converted into energy through various
energy used (Ayee, Lowe y Gereffi, 2009; conversion processes and it can be used in
Alemán-Nava, et al., 2014). thermal and/or electrical energy, in Mexico
this energy covers 70.1% of use, being with
this, of all renewable energies, the one with
the greatest development, occupying the
position number 20 worldwide (Khan, 2015;
Alemán-Nava, et al., 2014).

CONCLUSION
Over the years, energy consumption has
been in constant change, all this as new
sources of energy were discovered and
developed, thereby allowing a significant
change in the use of energy, wood was the
main source of energy, from our ancestors
until the end of the XIX century, after that,
oil and natural gas had a significant
development. However, the traditional
Fig. 3. Infrastructure of a farm wind (Ayee, energies of fossil fuels such as oil, natural
Lowe y Gereffi, 2009).
gas and coal cause various damages to the
environment, which is why new techniques
HYDROPOWER is one of the renewable and energy sources are being innovated,
energies that offers a significant reduction in which do not cause damage to the
carbon emissions, this energy is carried out environment and do not produce gases of
thanks to the fact that the water energy greenhouse effect, these energies are
moves from higher to lower altitudes, it re- classified as renewable energies.
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