Yes I inverted it to burning coal is called the industrial revolution because I think it’s neat way to look at it.
I’m thinking through the history of energy: We burned wood. Then we burned coal. Then we burned oil. Then we burned atoms.
I don’t think it was burning coal that started the industrial revolution. We had been burning coal and oil for far longer. If anything it was the steam engine. And the internal combustion engine was still part of the industrial revolution. Though the development of cars lead to the automotive era.
Well, you’ve run into a problem.
What you’re asking in the post isn’t what you’re asking in the comments.
See, the industrial revolution is not, and was not, defined by the burning of coal as an energy source.
While flipping terminology around to stimulate thought is a great thing, it makes the question you asked in the post unanswerable.
There wasn’t a term for when oil started being a fuel source, nor a specific one for automobile use. That’s the answer to your title question: there wasn’t.
That being said, the automotive era would be a decent term for the use of machine powered transportation.
But I think separating fossil fuels into separate eras when they overlap so much is pointless. It’s all fossil fuels, and that’s where I would suggest any term for that would be based, not the specific fuels.
Many people think of industrial developments in slightly different terms. Industry 4.0 is a fairly modern way to look at it.
“The First Industrial Revolution was marked by a transition from hand production methods to machines through the use of steam power and water power. “
“The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, is the period between 1871 and 1914 that resulted from installations of extensive railroad and telegraph networks, which allowed for faster transfer of people and ideas, as well as electricity.”
“The Third Industrial Revolution, also known as the Digital Revolution, began in the late 20th century. It is characterized by the shift to an economy centered on information technology, marked by the advent of personal computers, the Internet, and the widespread digitalization of communication and industrial processes.”
Burning coal was common in stage 1, oil gradually became more common in stage 2, nuclear in stage 3 etc. In this system, the power source wasn’t really the defining feature, but what you could do with it was.
The industrial revolution is when we went from mostly normal farmers to industrial scale production in factories, hence the name. The next “revolution” will either be a “renewable revolution” or there will be no revolution, only devolution
Lol the internet revolution was adapted to the name tech bubble after it burst.
Water power predates those for mechanization as does wind (water wheels and windmills).
This list also ignores other sources of energy (solar, wind, wave, etc.),
This post also ignores things we burn that aren’t in your list (peat, dung, etc.)
None of that has anything to do with the question they asked.
Yes I inverted it to burning coal is called the industrial revolution because I think it’s neat way to look at it. I’m thinking through the history of energy: We burned wood. Then we burned coal. Then we burned oil. Then we burned atoms.
I was referring to this part, but the premise of the whole question in the OP is incorrect. We burnt coal before the industrial revolution, during, and after it. One could argue that the industrial revolution was more or less impossible without coal, but that’s not what was stated.
The OP left a lot out of the history of energy as well as how it impacted various technologies for mechanization and automation.
I think I just had a lot of talks about this with someone recently. Feel free to DM me if you wanna know more.
Yes, you’re right; The sources of energy have a society-defining role.
There’s two major sources: carbon-based (coal, oil, gas, biomass) and electricity.
Right now, we consume approximately 50% of either, but this is about to change. I predict that solar power will shift energy consumption to nearly 100% electrical in a few years.
I don’t really know about a specific name for when we started burning oil, but you might wanna look at Peak Oil Theory because it explains the mass of oil consumption over time as a bell curve.
