Fleeing the Flowing Commons: Robert Thom, Water Reservoir Schemes, and the Shift to Steam Power in Early Nineteenth-Century Britain (2013)
In the 1820s and 1830s, British industry faced a choice between two energy sources to fuel its expansion: water and coal. A series of water reservoir schemes were proposed to scale up the power capacity of rivers in the central manufacturing districts, but the schemes with the largest potentials were never realized. Instead, the industry veered toward steam power, fatefully linking self-sustaining growth to the combustion of coal for mechanical energy. This article presents the first inquiry into the fate of the reservoir schemes. It describes the work of Robert Thom, leading Scottish engineer, champion of water, and critic of steam, and traces the fate of several plans in Lancashire. It demonstrates that water, contrary to the dominant narrative of coal in the Industrial Revolution, was consistently the cheaper alternative. The reservoir schemes had the drawback of obliging manufacturers to coordinate their energy consumption, submit to planning, and contribute to collective funding of construction work. In an environment of free competition, this ultimately proved unfeasible. This raises questions on the perception of the role of energy in the Industrial Revolution, as well as of the prerequisites for a future transition to renewable energy sources.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Taylor, Vanessa;
Trentmann, Frank;
(2011)
Liquid Politics: Water and the Politics of Everyday Life in the Modern City
(/isis/citation/CBB001200335/)
Book
Malone, Patrick M.;
(2009)
Waterpower in Lowell
(/isis/citation/CBB000952770/)
Article
Grudgings, Steve;
Tymków, Peter;
(2014)
Water-Raising Technologies of the Chelsea Water Works Company Prior to the Introduction of their First Boulton and Watt Steam Engine
(/isis/citation/CBB001201526/)
Book
Halliday, Stephen;
(2004)
Water: A Turbulent History
(/isis/citation/CBB000500271/)
Essay Review
Smith, S. D.;
(2011)
Determining the Industrial Revolution
(/isis/citation/CBB001566459/)
Book
Erik Swyngedouw;
(2015)
Liquid Power: Contested Hydro-Modernities in Twentieth-Century Spain
(/isis/citation/CBB814785175/)
Book
Fyfe, Aileen;
(2012)
Steam-Powered Knowledge: William Chambers and the Business of Publishing, 1820--1860
(/isis/citation/CBB001221109/)
Chapter
SUZUKI Jun;
Nicholas Pertwee;
(2020)
Boiler Manufacture in Late-nineteenth Century Japan: From First Beginnings to Nationwide Expansion
(/isis/citation/CBB586056676/)
Book
Landels, John G.;
(2000)
Engineering in the Ancient World
(/isis/citation/CBB000102160/)
Article
Simon, Julia;
(2012)
Diverting Water in Rousseau: Technology, the Sublime, and the Quotidian
(/isis/citation/CBB001201885/)
Article
Susan M. Ross;
(2003)
Steam or Water Power? Thomas C. Keefer and the Engineers Discuss the Montreal Waterworks in 1852
(/isis/citation/CBB870824105/)
Article
McOwat, Peter;
(2006)
The Design and Performance of the King Edward Turbines
(/isis/citation/CBB000700481/)
Article
Leggett, Don;
(2011)
Spectacle and Witnessing: Constructing Readings of Charles Parsons's Marine Turbine
(/isis/citation/CBB001230706/)
Article
Marsden, Ben;
(2006)
Superseding Steam: The Napier and Rankine Hot-Air Engine
(/isis/citation/CBB000700478/)
Thesis
Nuvolari, Alessandro;
(2004)
The Making of Steam Power Technology: A Study of Technical Change during the British Industrial Revolution
(/isis/citation/CBB001562110/)
Article
Hills, Richard L.;
(2006)
The Importance of Steam Power during the Nineteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB000720096/)
Article
Nuvolari, Alessandro;
Verspagen, Bart;
(2007)
Lean's Engine Reporter and the Development of the Cornish Engine: A Reappraisal
(/isis/citation/CBB000831456/)
Book
Walton, Steven A.;
(2006)
Wind and Water in the Middle Ages: Fluid Technologies from Antiquity to the Renaissance
(/isis/citation/CBB000774016/)
Article
Maria Montava Gadea;
Antoni Maria Claret Roca-Rosell;
(2021)
Informe sobre Can Cartró, Sant Joan Despí. Un sistema energètic singular (Report on Can Cartró, Sant Joan Despí. A Singular Energy System)
(/isis/citation/CBB418269750/)
Article
Cooper, Timothy;
(2011)
Peter Lund Simmonds and the Political Ecology of Waste Utilization in Victorian Britain
(/isis/citation/CBB001230685/)
Be the first to comment!