Energy was and is an essential precondition for industrialization and Modernity. The metabolic profile of the industrial regime is dominated by fossil fuels and a small number of materials for construction, nutrition, transport and energy supply.

• The exploitation of non-renewable energy carriers has increased exponentially since 1800, in a transition from local and diffuse land-based sources (food-wood-water-wind) to concentrated and globally traded fossil fuel–based energy carriers. Per capita energy and material use rose three- to five-fold. Energy productivity, in use per unit of economic output, rose also significantly. It occurred first in Europe and offshoots; since mid-20^th century also in other regions;
• Energy use in a country depends on location, economic structure and other factors. Most energy use is for manufacturing, heating and cooling in the built environment and transport. In 2020, humanity burned the equivalent of about 11 bln tons of oil (about 85% of primary energy use) for these purposes.
• Yet, hundreds of million of people have still no or limited access to secure and affordable energy for basic needs. There is a gradual shift towards ‘comfort’ carriers electricity and (natural) gas, which is known as the energy ladder in the context of poor households. It reduces and displaces local and in-house environmental and health damages.
• Since early industrialization, the exploitation of fossil fuels, notably the black gold oil, is a core determinant of economic growth and connected to military power and conflicts. There have been concerns about depletion of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas), but new discoveries and technology by globally operating corporations have permitted continuous growth in output, albeit with political crises and price volatility.
• Burning these large amounts of fossil fuels causes a variety of environmental and health damages. At the local-regional level, these are at least partly mitigated in the wealthy countries by regulatory policies; poor countries may follow as impacts increase.
• Fossil fuel combustion is also for over two third responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases (ghg) which influence the radiative balance on earth. The resulting climate change has initiated, after decades of denial and confusion, an energy transition towards more energy efficiency and non-carbon energy sources. Part of it is an increase in the share of electricity, because it facilitates an increase in energy efficiency and in the use of non-carbon (hydro, wind, solar, nuclear) sources. It requires massive investments and stirs a discussion on the role and form of public utilities and local cooperatives.