Pre-Industrial Societies

Chapter four goes through all various sources and uses of energy in pre-industrial societies. Methods used progressed from one's manual labor in gathering and hunting,to agriculture, to the use of animals, then to machinery device whose designs became more complex and efficient in time. Smil shows the reader this progression from basic to complex, as people sought to increase efficiency and production and describes the basic functions and output of things like horsepower, waterwheels, wind mills, and blast furnaces. Eventually, the use of metals was introduced and used for the production of various materials. Each progression was done so to support larger populations and produce more goods.

mizzen sails/mast - the third mast, or the mast immediately aft of the main-mast. Typically shorter than the fore-mast.

phytomass-plant biomass

The ultimate source of energy in pre-industrial society....I'd have to say that for some time, manual labor, whether by people or animal, was the ultimate source of energy because it was through this kind of work that crops could be harvested, wood chopped, seeds sown, and so on. But also, wood was an essential source for energy because of its heat and ability to burn.

The windmill was an innovation that has since progressed very far. I like this one because the overall construction of it with the use of wood and man power had to be challenging; they had to develop the most efficient design possible with the materials available. The book mentions that "the cubic wind speed...is proportional to the height above the ground raised to the power of 0.14" (124). Current turbines can range anywhere from 27m to 60m, and there's a new technology of wind power that works 1000' in the air:

http://www.magenn.com/

Certainly, having all the resources needed to make more advanced machinery is advantageous, but since people in the preinudstrial societies were limited in this way, they had to progress at a perhaps slower rate with what animal, man, or machine power they had.