Renewable energy, derived from continuously replenishing natural processes, has a history far older than the fossil fuels that dominate the industrial age. The utilization of natural flows like wind, water, and solar radiation dates back to the earliest human civilizations. Humanity’s relationship with these resources has evolved over millennia, moving from simple mechanical applications to complex, grid-scale electricity generation. This long history provides context for the modern global commitment to clean power.
Harnessing Natural Flows: Pre-Industrial Utilization
The most ancient form of renewable energy is biomass, first harnessed with the discovery of fire. Humans used wood and organic matter for cooking and warmth, relying on this stored solar energy for thousands of years. The agricultural revolution later expanded this practice, incorporating crop waste and animal dung for additional heat and light.
Water power was organized into mechanical work as early as the 4th century BC in Mesopotamia, where horizontal water wheels turned millstones for grinding flour. The Romans later perfected vertical water wheels, using them for milling grain and powering early industrial processes like sawing wood. A notable Roman application was the immense flour mill at Barbegal in the 4th century AD, which employed 16 overshot water wheels in a cascading system.
Wind energy was first utilized for transportation, propelling boats along the Nile River as far back as 5000 BC. The first mechanical windmills appeared around the 7th century in Persia, featuring vertical-axis designs used for grinding grain and pumping water for irrigation. This technology spread across the Middle East and into Europe, where horizontal-axis windmills became prominent for draining land and performing mechanical tasks.
Ancient civilizations also mastered solar energy through passive architectural design, long before the invention of electric lighting or mechanical heating. The Greeks and Romans oriented their public baths and homes toward the south to maximize exposure to the low-angle winter sun. Thick stone walls were incorporated as thermal mass, absorbing the sun’s heat during the day and slowly releasing it at night.
The Early Industrial Era: The Rise of Hydropower and Early Electricity
The 19th century brought a shift as inventors sought to convert natural mechanical forces directly into centralized electrical power. The development of the hydraulic turbine and the electric generator in the mid-1800s provided the means to achieve this conversion efficiently. This pairing led to the creation of the first commercial hydroelectric power plant in North America.
The Vulcan Street Plant, built on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, became operational on September 30, 1882. This facility used a water wheel-driven turbine and an Edison “K” type dynamo to generate approximately 12.5 kilowatts of power. The electricity produced was sufficient to light three buildings, including two paper mills and the owner’s home.
Similar electrical applications emerged for wind power around the same time. The Scottish engineer James Blyth built the world’s first electricity-generating wind turbine in 1887 to light his holiday cottage. Shortly after, Charles Brush constructed a larger, 12-kilowatt wind turbine in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1888, which powered his mansion and laboratory.
However, the rapid growth of cheap, energy-dense coal and oil quickly relegated these early renewable electrical systems to niche or isolated applications. Fossil fuels offered a centralized, scalable power source that was easier to transport and store than the variable energy flows of the sun, wind, or distant rivers. Despite the early success of hydro and wind electricity, they were soon overshadowed by the fossil fuel infrastructure of the burgeoning industrial world.
The Mid-Century Decline and The Energy Crises Catalyst
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, fossil fuels, particularly oil, became the dominant source of global energy, leading to a decline in renewable energy research and development. The perception of oil as an inexhaustible, low-cost resource, combined with enthusiasm for nuclear power, pushed solar and wind technologies to the periphery. Investment slowed significantly, confining them largely to academic study and specialized applications, such as the space program.
This established energy paradigm was abruptly challenged by the geopolitical events of the 1970s, specifically the 1973 and 1979 Oil Crises. OPEC oil embargoes caused global oil prices to quadruple, creating severe economic shocks and highlighting the vulnerabilities of relying on imported fossil fuels. This instability provided a powerful incentive for nations to pursue energy independence and diversification.
In the United States, this crisis spurred the first major government push for renewable energy since the early 20th century. President Jimmy Carter’s administration championed solar power as a domestic solution. On June 20, 1979, 32 solar thermal collector panels were installed on the roof of the White House West Wing. These panels provided nearly 75% of the hot water used in the staff kitchen, serving as a visible political statement about the nation’s commitment to a “solar reality.”
The Modern Global Commitment
The renewed focus on renewables in the late 1970s and 1980s laid the groundwork for a technological and policy renaissance. Engineering advancements rapidly improved the efficiency and lowered the cost of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells and wind turbines. In the 1980s and 1990s, commercial solar module efficiency rose from around 6% to 15-20%. Simultaneously, the cost dramatically fell from approximately $300 per watt in the 1970s to below $10 per watt by the late 1990s.
For wind power, the transition was marked by a massive increase in turbine size and sophisticated aerodynamic design. Early utility-scale turbines were rated in the kilowatts, but modern designs feature multi-megawatt capacity, utilizing longer, lighter rotor blades made from advanced composite materials. This growth in scale and the use of performance-optimizing control systems have helped reduce the cost of wind energy from over 55 cents per kilowatt-hour in 1980 to less than 3 cents per kilowatt-hour today.
Policy mechanisms were created to accelerate the market’s adoption of these improving technologies. Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) of 2000 introduced a comprehensive Feed-in Tariff (FIT). This tariff guaranteed renewable energy producers a fixed, long-term, above-market price for the electricity they generated. This policy proved successful, driving down the global price of solar power by achieving manufacturing economies of scale.
In the United States, state-level Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) became a common policy tool. They require utility companies to source a minimum percentage of their electricity from renewable resources. These mandates provided a clear market signal for investment, leading to a significant increase in wind generation capacity, often by as much as 44% in states that adopted the standards. These combined breakthroughs and policy shifts have permanently moved renewable energy from a national security concern to a globally scalable and economically competitive power source.