socialmedian: 150 Years of Plenitude (via feedly)

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Submitted by Lostmoya from Google Reader

Aug 27, 2009

Summary

This post is a guest post by Morgan Downey. Morgan is author of the book ‘Oil 101’.

Exactly one hundred and fifty years ago, on August 27, 1859, the first commercial oil well in the US began producing. The subsequent petroleum bounty has enabled and defined modern civilization.

This post is a status update in honor of the day--on how far we have come and our immediate challenges.

Graphic by author, based on prices of illuminants in the mid 1850s from 'Artificial Light' by Matthew Luckiesh.

A Brief History of Oil

People have used oil obtained from the ground since at least 4,000BC. In the Middle East, crude oil that seeped to the surface was used to waterproof boats and as an adhesive in the construction of buildings and roads. Crude oil was also refined in minor quantities for lamp and heating oil in ancient China, though this technology never made it directly to modern times. By 600AD, the Byzantines used crude oil to produce a flame-throwing weapon known as Greek fire.

The modern oil industry began as a result of the search for inexpensive lighting. Unt

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