This lecture focuses on two questions: What is the history of US energy transitions? And to what extent does the current transition from fossil fuels to alternative energies (primarily solar and wind power) differ from these earlier transitions? The answer to the first question is largely based on Nye's "Consuming Power" (MIT Press, 1998) and the work of Thomas Hughes, particularly the concept of technological momentum; this includes discussion of the shifts from water power to steam to electricity and fossil fuels. Newer data and recent events are discussed to answer the second question, including some international comparisons, to deal with the vital question of whether the US energy system is falling behind that of other nations.

David E. Nye is a specialist in the history of technology whose work includes four books on the history of energy published by MIT Press. His many prizes and awards include the Leonardo da Vinci Medal from the Society for the History of Technology and a knighthood from the Queen of Denmark. He is a senior research fellow at the University of Minnesota's Charles Babbage Institute, a by-felllow of Churchill College, Cambridge University, and Professor Emeritus of history, University of Southern Denmark.

This talk is copresented by the University of Minnesota Environmental Humanities Initiative as a part of their 2019 symposium.