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Browsing NiCHE Podcasts by Subject "energy history"
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Item Open Access Nature's Past Episode 050: Canadian Energy History(Network in Canadian History and Environment, 2015-11-24) Kheraj, SeanAccording to a study by Richard Unger and John Thistle, Canadians consumed 430 petajoules of energy in 1867. Combining energy from animal labour, food, firewood, wind, water, coal, crude oil, natural gas and electricity, by 2004 Canadians reached a historic peak of energy consumption at 11,526 petajoules. For reference, a petajoule is a unit of energy measurement roughly equivalent to 31.6 million cubic metres of natural gas or 277.78 million kilowatt hours of electricity. Since Confederation, Canadians have been high per capita energy consumers and our appetites for energy have grown substantially over the past 148 years. The way we consume energy has changed quite a bit over that time period too. In 1867, Canadians drew energy primarily from organic sources: animal labour, wood, and agricultural produce. Since the mid-twentieth century, we have drawn increasingly from mineral sources of energy: coal, crude oil, and natural gas. This shift in energy consumption since Confederation has arguably been one of the most consequential changes in Canadian history. It changed our relationships with one another as much as it changed our relationships with nature. The energy history of Canada is as much a concern for environmental history as it is for social history, political history, and cultural history. Energy history is an emerging field in Canada, but one with long historiographical roots. To learn more about Canadian energy history and the development of this new approach to thinking about environment, history, and society, this episode features a round-table discussion with three Canadian historians each of whom were part of an energy history working group at the University of Toronto in 2014-15.Item Open Access Nature's Past Episode 052: Hydro-Power and War(Network in Canadian History and Environment, 2016-03-22) Kheraj, SeanWhat fuels war? The total war of the Second World War placed enormous demands on the resources and environment of Canada. Manufacturing equipment for the war and harvesting natural resources for production were some of the most substantial contributions Canadians made to the war effort on the home front. And most of the electricity that powered that effort came from falling water. As Matthew Evenden writes in his new book Allied Power: Mobilizing Hydro-Electricity During Canada’s Second World War, “Canada’s war economy was mobilized on the banks of rivers as well as people.” During the course of the Second World War, the federal government, provinces, and private corporations coordinated in the expansion of Canada’s hydro-electric capacity. By the end of the war, Canada was a hydro-electricity superpower. On this episode of the podcast Matthew Evenden discusses his new book on the role of energy and environment in Canada’s Second World War. Book Cover: Allied Power: Mobilizing Hydro-Electricity During Canada's Second World War.