Examples of renewable energy use have existed in some form all through human history, from people in the Palaeolithic Period bathing in hot springs heated by geothermal energy to the Greeks and Romans channelling sun rays with mirrors to light torches. This is thought of as an early example of a ‘circular economy’, a system in which resource input, waste and emissions are minimised through the efficiency of their use and reuse. This term was coined by the Swiss economist Stahel in the 1980s in direct opposition to societies current ‘linear economy’, also known as the take-make-waste model, which began to prevail with the turn of the industrial revolution. With these sustainable ideas beginning to be prioritised again, people have been looking back to the circular economies of the past and considering if a return to this way of life would ever be possible.
Before the industrial revolution, households would reserve large parts of their land for their energy supply, although it was not generally thought of as that. Crops were sowed to provide basic calories, and the main drivers of the economy were the woodland and peatland reserves cultivated around settlements. Everyone understood where their resources came from and what was involved in their use. This changed in the 1860s, by which time the industrial revolution had already significantly changed the lifestyle and resource consumption rates of those living in Britain. Energy demand could no longer be met by individual households, instead being moved away to specific limited sites such as mines and power plants, and for the first time causing a disconnect which fed into an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality. While the era of living off the land and replenishing resources at roughly the rate they were used may sound like a utopia in the context of today’s environmental crisis, it too came with many of its own problems. In England, forests had become scarce from the 1500s since wood was used for both fuel and a building material, and by the 1900s there was approximately fifty thousand horse pulled cabs and buses for transport. While these didn’t pollute through carbon emissions, they instead created enormous amounts of waste - up to one thousand tonnes of dung each day - which attracted flies that spread disease. The industrial revolution, while not having a good quality of life, did promise a brighter future and bring about rapid growth in transportation, agriculture and industrial processes. Now these historical circular economies and energy sources are back in consideration, it is vital to find ways of adapting them for modern use, taking the principles of clean living in harmony with nature while fitting in with current standards of living.
Probably the best example of a historical energy source playing a role in the renewable revolution is solar power. It has been utilised for centuries in some form and is a likely candidate for the most probable future of energy, with the sun releasing in two minutes what the world currently consumes in a year. This was first commercialised in the mid 20th century, with the invention of the first photovoltaic cells. From there, development happened at a rapid pace, with their efficiency going from eight to fourteen percent between 1957 and 1960. By the 2000s, this had reached thirty-three percent. The scale and speed at which solar cells develop makes them the perfect candidate for a systematic replacing of fossil fuels while matching the global growth in energy demand. However, with this replacing comes another consideration. While solar power is a renewable source of energy, the cells themselves currently do not fit into the model of a circular economy. Solar panels are expected to become obsolete every thirty years, with billions of panels anticipated to need disposal and replacement as the technology advances. The first generation of domestic solar panels are due to be coming to the end of their lifespan soon, and with this comes the discussion of their recycling. The first large scale facility for this opened in France in June 2023 and is a promising sign for their ability to be not only a renewable energy source but circular one as well.
It has been a long process working towards a clean future with many hurdles, and this only highlights the importance of considering renewable energy sources and principles taken from a historical circular economy in tandem. Together, the circular economy can prevent renewables from playing a role in the same problem it is aiming to solve and gives hope for the development of a truly sustainable way of living.