How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future

by Vaclav Smil

With these adjustments—and rounding heavily to avoid impressions of unwarranted accuracy—my calculations show a 60-fold increase in the use of fossil fuels during the 19th century, a 16-fold gain during the 20th century, and about a 1,500-fold increase over the past 220 years.16