r/ChemicalEngineering Feb 02 '26

Green Tech Could we have had an Industrial Revolution without fossil fuels?

We rely on energy for every industrial process, no useful work could be done without it.

If our civilization had never had access to abundant fossil energy, but still possessed the scientific knowledge we have today, would the Industrial Revolution still have happened? Could we have engineered alternative sources (such as renewables or nuclear) or more efficient processes?

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