Oil, Consumption of

History of Oil Consumption

American and British engineers led the way in searching for new deposits of oil around the world, a process that rapidly accelerated around 1900. By then it had become obvious, to engineers at least, that oil was a safer (on average), cleaner, and smoother form of energy than that produced by coal. Big Coal remained dominant at the start of the 20th century, and most Americans continued to heat their homes with coal well into the 1930s, but those who switched over to oil found it cheaper, easier, and safer to use.

World War II proved an immense boon to the oil industry, both American and foreign. Thousands of new engineers received on-the-job training during the war, and governments as different as those of Nazi Germany and the United Kingdom perceived the need for more oil, something made evident by the dramatic success of Blitzkrieg, the German method of lightning warfare made possible by use of the combustion engine. The Age of Oil began sometime in the 1940s, and shows no sign of retreating today.

The 1950s and 1960s were, for American consumers, a golden age of oil use. Whether it was for the gas that ran their automobiles, or for home heating, oil cost Americans about $.25 a gallon, amazingly cheap by todays standards. Vehicles produced in the 1950s and 1960s reflect this fact; Americans delighted in long, over-built cars, complete with fins and tails. Few people worried, or even thought, about the future of oil consumption, for it seemed that there was plenty of oil to go around.

The switch from coal to oil was complete by the 1960s, with the vast majority of Americans heating their homes with oil. It was just about the same time that the nation, and much of the world, suffered through the coldest decade of the 20th century. Little-discussed today, the winters of the 1960s were so severe that some people, including scientists, spoke of a coming ice age (those discussions were renewed during the brutally cold winters of 1978, 1979, 1982, and 1983). Americans did not feel the pinch during the 1960s because gas and home heating oil remained at roughly the same low prices during that decade, but their European counterparts saw the prices of the same commodities double in the 1960s. By 1970, Europeans were making smaller, more fuel-efficient automobiles, while the American auto industry continued to go for size and impressive performance on the highway.

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