Interesting in that now we're looking to move away from hydrocarbons which ultimately was how much of the electricity has been produced.
Interesting in that now we're looking to move away from hydrocarbons which ultimately was how much of the electricity has been produced.
Kerosene, refined from crude oil, was at least as good as whale oil for lamps. It was also cheaper, so that was the end of the whaling industry. There were pathetic advertisements from the whale oil people of that time arguing for 'pure' whale oil over 'impure' substitutes. However kerosene was so obviously a better deal consumers switched with lightning speed anyway.
As an aside, gasoline was a waste product of the crude oil refining process that produced kerosene. That meant very cheap fuel for the internal combustion engine which was starting its climb up the technology s-curve at the same time.
It's the same today: people pay premiums for vegetables fertilized with "pure" bird poop (guano) over equivalent phosphate rocks mined from the earth.
e.g.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/world/americas/30peru.htm...