BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//talks.cam.ac.uk//v3//EN
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:Europe/London
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:19700329T010000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:19701025T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
CATEGORIES:History and Economics Seminar
SUMMARY:'Black coal is capital\, white coal is revenue': F
 rench hydropower and the idea of renewable energy\
 , 1889-1919 - Tobias Silseth (University of Cambri
 dge)
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240206T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240206T180000
UID:TALK209641AThttp://talks.cam.ac.uk
URL:http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/209641
DESCRIPTION:The transition from an energy system based on foss
 il fuels to one based on renewable energy has beco
 me an important notion in current debates on tackl
 ing anthropogenic climate change. This image of a 
 fossil-fuelled past and a future of renewables doe
 s not only go back to the 1970s\, when the term ‘r
 enewable energy’ came into widespread use. In fact
 \, the hope of a future energy economy based on el
 ectricity generated from renewables already existe
 d in the late 1800s. One of the key niches for art
 iculating this hope was the group of French engine
 ers and businessmen that developed and promoted hy
 droelectric power\, often referred to as ‘white co
 al’. Through journals like _La Houille blanche_\, 
 they emphasised that white coal was renewed over t
 ime while black coal was depleted\, and they argue
 d this point by applying economic categories like 
 capital\, revenue\, inheritance\, and amortisation
  to emerging technical systems. \n\nUsing economic
  categories to conceptualise different energy sour
 ces\, French hydropower proponents were extending 
 the work of earlier pioneers in thermodynamics. Th
 e application of such categories was therefore tra
 nsnational and interdisciplinary. In the context o
 f French hydropower development\, however\, such t
 erms took on a new importance before the First Wor
 ld War. Advocates of hydroelectric power associate
 d the new energy source with good economic managem
 ent. With the new imperatives introduced by the wa
 r\, the argument that white coal might replace bla
 ck coal gave way to a vision that emphasised the n
 eed for both energy sources.\n\nFrench hydropower 
 boosters went from arguing that white coal might l
 ead to a renewable energy future to arguing that c
 oal and hydropower were both necessary for a sound
  energy economy. This shift in strategy shows both
  that\, through economic categories\, there was a 
 clear distinction between renewable and nonrenewab
 le energy sources\, and that the vision of an acce
 lerating shift to renewable energy before the Firs
 t World War in most cases did not survive the exig
 encies of global conflict. \n
LOCATION:Seminar Room 3\, Cripps Court\, Magdalene College
CONTACT:Dr AM Price
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR