Petroleum's reign: when Henry Ford introduced the first of his Model T cars in 1908, ethanol was the fuel used.

The Oil Age began quietly in the 1850, when it was shown that crude oil deposits could be tapped by drilling through rock, and crude oil could be refined into purer hydrocarbons. Before the mid-1800s, coal and biomass fuels served as the energy sources. By the late 1800s, however, refined crude oil became increasingly available, and proved to be a most efficient fuel for internal combustion engines. The Steam Age faded as smaller and lighter oil-fired engines replaced coal-fired steam engines.

In his book Something New Under The Sun, historian J.R. McNeill wrote: "A goodly share of heating fuel came from oil, as later still did the feed-stocks for plastics, synthetic fibres, and chemicals. By and large, the United States shifted to oil first, between 1910 and 1950. Western Europe and Japan, which had stronger political …