Technology's+Role

Over time, humans have used technology to gain the most out of its resources from donkeys and draft animals to harvest machines to wind and water.

__**Technology**__ affects how we gain our energy, and how we use it.

As our technology increases, so does our energy consumption. However, we are facing obstacles such as pollution and lack of resources that impede our energy consumption. Therefore, humans have used technology in search of other ways of gaining energy from our natural resources.

The most obvious example of a natural resource that has profoundly affected our economy and advancement in technology is coal and natural gas. Coal and natural gas is also a prime example of the obstacles we face such as pollution and a lack of resources. Since mankind has been aware of this problem, humans have been trying to branch away from those natural, nonrenewable resources.

The United States has used draft animals such as mules and horses to do most of its work, and it is from those work animals that humans have derived most of their energy. But since the beginning of the 20th century, we have replaced the draft animals with those of fossil fuel machines. That shift from animals to fossil fuels not only changed where we got our energy from but also our lifestyle and landscape ("Energy in the United States"). Because our increase of technology in the industry of steam, Americans began paving the ways toward the West using trains and locomotives ("Energy in the United States").



1 barrel (42 gallons) of crude oil = 5,800,000 BTU 1 gallon of gasoline = 124,000 BTU 1 gallon of diesel fuel = 139,000 BTU 1 gallon of heating oil = 139,000 BTU 1 cubic foot of natural gas - 1,031 BTU 1 gallon of propane = 91,000 BTU 1 ton of coal = 20,754,000 BTU (Energy Kid's Page, 2005)
 * British Thermal Units (BTU)** - most common measurement to compare energy


 * We use technology to broaden where we gain our energy from **

Furnaces exploit the energy of coal. Internal combustion engines harness the energy of petroleum and natural gas.



A turbine captures the traffic of steam 

Nuclear power plants incorporate the use of nuclear fission 

Natural Resources 

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