Jean-Baptiste Fressoz is the author of the book More and More and More: An All-Consuming History of Energy, 2024.

The importance of the book lies in its forceful argument for a particular pattern in energy consumption throughout history. The standard history suggests that we have advanced through different ages during which particular primary energy sources became dominant. A common progression is the age of wood, the age of coal, the age of oil, and now the nuclear / renewable age. The alternative view that Fressoz advances is that the consumption of each primary energy source tends to increase over time because of the symbiotic relationship between energy sources.

The first chapter of this book is titled "A Symbiotic History of Energy" which refers to the idea that "all primary energies have grown together and have accumulated without replacing each other. Instead of considering energies as separate entities in competition with each other, it reveals the history of their entanglement and interdependence "(p. 1).

The rest of the book documents examples of the ways in which a primary energy sources spurs the increased use of another primary energy source. For example, as we produced more coal we required a large amount of wood for "pit props" to stabilize the mining shafts. Coal that was consumed to power train steam engines required a large amount of wood to build the sleepers that train rails rest upon. Fressoz documents how pit props and sleepers created a huge demand for wood over and above the use of wood for construction and heat.

Fressoz suggest that a more accurate view of history sees us as using more and more and more of each primary source because of the symbiotic relationships between primary energy sources. This goes against a common narrative in the history of energy use that we are undergoing a transition from some more primitive form of energy to some more advanced form of energy. Proponents argue that if we make this transition we will solve some major societal problem. There are probably examples of this, but Fressoz would argue that history suggests consumption of the more "primitive" primary energy source will also continue to grow over time, not be replaced by the more "advanced" primary energy source.

The book teaches us to engage in two habits of thought when we are assimilating information about primary energy flows:

1. Be skeptical of narratives that suggest we are going through an energy transition. China is bringing a huge amount of renewable energy online each year and some might call them green for doing so, but at the same time they are also bringing a huge amount of coal power online. Reasons for needing additional coal plants is to backstop renewable energy (when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining) and because coal powered turbines create inertia that helps to increase grid reliability.

   Fressoz offers another reason the use of coal is increasing in China:

   Considered as a 'green technology', the electric car is above all a matter of energy sovereignty in China: half of the world's EVs are in China, where two-thirds of electricity is produced from coal. For the time being, the electric car has had the effect of increasing coals' share in global mobility compared with oil. Orwell's comment is as true today as it was in 1937: coal and miners have never powered so many cars.

2. Look for connections between the increasing use of one primary energy source and how it might affect the consumption of other primary energy sources. If we want to develop renewable energy infrastructure, how will that affect the consumption of wood, coal, wood, and nuclear energy sources? The effects might be direct (oil to extract coal) or indirect through the material flows required to build out the infrastructure (the steel, cement, etc..). Fressoz would caution you about thinking that increasing renewable energy infrastructure will reduce our consumption of fossil fuels because there are so many symbiotic relationships between renewable energies and fossil fuel energies.

Overall I highly recommend the book. The body of the book is 220 pages long with an additional 90 pages of source citations and notes. It is not a technical book and I felt motivated to keep reading a chapter or two each day once I started. The book does not give an overall solution to climate change issues other than to help us recognize the difficulty of pulling off a "green transition" and that we would need to move in a direction of a "less and less and less" if we expect to have any impact on showing down climate change.

Here is a good interview with the author if you want to learn more:

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