Energy Consumption in Italy in the 19th and 20th Centuries A Statistical Outline by Paolo Malanima Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Istituto di Studi sulle Società del Mediterraneo Elaborazione ed impaginazione a cura di: Aniello Barone e Paolo Pironti ISBN 88-8080-066-3 Copyright © 2006 by Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto di Studi sulle Società del Mediterraneo (ISSM). Tutti i diritti sono riservati. Nessuna parte di questa pubblicazione può essere fotocopiata, riprodotta, archiviata, memorizzata o trasmessa in qualsiasi forma o mezzo – elettronico, meccanico, reprografico, digitale – se non nei termini previsti dalla legge che tutela il Diritto d’Autore. INDEX Foreword 5 1. Energy sources 7 1.1. The energy transition 9 1.2. Definitions 10 1.3. Primary sources 13 1.4. Territory and population 15 2. Traditional sources 19 2.1. Methods 21 2.2. Food 26 2.3. Firewood 28 2.4. Animals 34 2.5. Wind 36 2.6. Water 37 2.7. Consumption of traditional sources 42 3. Modern sources 45 3.1. From traditional to modern energy carriers 47 3.2. Fossil sources 54 3.3. Primary electricity 58 3.4. Consumption of modern sources 62 4. Energy and product 67 4.1. The trend 69 4.2. Energy intensity and productivity of energy 72 4.3. Conclusion 78 4 Index List of abbreviations 79 References 81 Appendix 89 I Aggregate series 91 1. Energy consumption in Italy 1861-2000 93 2. The structure of energy consumption 1861- 2000 96 3. Per capita energy consumption 1861-2000 99 II The energy carriers 103 1. Food for men 105 2. Firewood 108 3. Animals 111 4. Wind 114 5. Water 117 6. Fossil fuels 120 7. Primary electricity 123 III Product and energy intensity 127 1. Gross domestic product 1861-2003 132 2. Per capita product 1861-2003 135 3. Product and energy intensity 138 FOREWORD The purpose of this work is to provide statistical series on energy consumption in Italy in the last two centuries. Its main innovation is the inclusion of traditional sources along with modern ones. After some introductory remarks on the purpose of my re- search and the definitions used therein (Ch. 1), I examine each carrier individually and explain the statistical methods I have employed for traditional (Ch. 2) and modern (Ch. 3) en- ergy carriers. I also review some characteristics of energy con- sumption trends in Italy (Ch. 4) to set the statistical data within a wider economic context. The statistical series are given in the Appendix. This work is part of a more ambitious project undertaken by the research group “Energy, Growth, Pollution”. Its aim is to quantify energy consumption in most European countries. I would like to thank the members of the group for their com- ments during the several meetings we had over the last few years. I am also grateful to Astrid Kander for her remarks to a previous draft, and especially to Silvana Bartoletto for collect- ing much of the data on which the series in this book are based. 1. The energy sources 1. Energy sources 1.1. The energy transition The energy transition from traditional vegetable energy sources to modern fossil carriers marked a strong discontinu- ity in the availability and use of energy and was one of the main foundations of modern growth.1 Yet our knowledge of this major transformation is far from clear. The available sta- tistical information in European historical accounting only concerns modern sources. The lack in it of the traditional en- ergy carriers or the inclusion only of firewood, and the lack of clarity about what traditional carriers actually are and the methods used to record them bias our perception of recent economic transformations. If we include traditional sources in our investigations, the interplay between the economy and energy becomes much more complex and interesting. The purpose of the present research is to quantify all en- ergy carriers over the long period of the Italian energy tran- sition.2 At the time of its political unification in 1861, Italy was still a traditional economy, an economy based, that is, primarily on the vegetable product of fields, pastures and forests. Its use of fossil sources was much lower than in north-western European countries, accounting for 7 percent of the total energy balance. In the following century, Italy, like other countries, witnessed a dramatic transformation in the structure of its energy consumption after a long-term 1 See especially Cipolla (1962) and Wrigley (1988 and 2004). 2 Works on energy in 19th- and 20th-century Italy completely disregard traditional sources and hence only give a partial image of the connections between energy and economy. See, for instance, Colombo (1991), Clô (1994), Toninelli (1999). 10 Paolo Malanima stability which had lasted several centuries. In 2000, only 7 percent of the country’s overall energy consumption came from traditional sources. This energy transition went hand in hand with a rise of gross product and an expansion of the secondary and tertiary sectors. Since “energy transition” means a replacing of the old with the new, its study may be a first step to throw light on the dynamics of energy consumption both in modern and in pre-modern economies. 1.2. Definitions The aim of this investigation is to take into account every form of energy exploited by human beings yesterday and today.3 The objective is to reconstruct the input of energy having a cost into the economic system; that is to quantify primary sources of energy consumed yearly, at some cost, by human beings. I will look at the following energy sources, in chrono- logical order: 1. Food for human beings; 2. Firewood; 3. Feed for work animals; 4. Wind; 5. Water; 6. Fossil sources; 7. Primary electricity. These energy sources make up, so to speak, the successive layers on which our modern energy system is based.4 The first 3 I have already put forward this approach to energy quantification in preindustrial Europe in Malanima (1996 and 2001). The method is quite similar to that used for Sweden by Kander (2002). 4 For some general information on the history of energy exploitation, see, among many others, Débeir, Deléage, Hémery (1986), Smil (1994), Energy sources 11 energy source was food, which has remained the indispensa- ble basis for any human activity ever since the dawn of the human species 4 or 5 million years ago. Later, between 1 mil- lion and 500,000 years ago, human beings gained mastery over fire and thus became capable of exploiting fuels, espe- cially firewood, the second source, and, until recently, the main energy carrier. Feed for working animals was the third main source of energy to be exploited by human beings, ever since they began to harness oxen, horses, mules, camels, etc., for agricultural work or transportation. The exploitation of animals began at the start of the Neolithic agricultural revolu- tion, and spread rapidly especially in the 4th millennium b.C., i.e., in the age of the first Near East agrarian empires. Wind had been exploited to propel sailing ships long before, but began to be widely used for this purpose only in the 4th mil- lennium, and to drive mills from the 7th century A.D. onward. Water power began to be exploited for mills in the 1st century b.C.5 For several millennia, all of these carriers together formed the energy basis of pre-modern agrarian civilizations. Ultimately derived from the Sun, they were the source of all human activities (Figure 1.1). Two centuries ago, the massive introduction of fossil sources inaugurated a new age of change. These sources, while already known previously, began to be utilized on a large scale only at the turn of the 18th century, with the First Industrial Revolution.6 Later, at the end of the 19th century, the spread of electricity and oil coincided with the so-called Second Industrial Revolution. Nuclear energy is a very re- cent addition to the energy basis. Caracciolo-Morelli (1996), and, with specific reference to Europe, Ma- lanima (1996). 5 Although it has been recently suggested that the water-mill may have existed as early as the 3rd century b.C.: Wilson (2002). 6 Malanima (2006). 12 Paolo Malanima Figure 1.1. Sun, soil and traditional energy sources Food for men Firewood Fodder for HUMAN SUN Soil animals WORK Energy from wind Energy from water Military energy consumption for weapons, although im- portant, is not included today in modern energy balances and is hence disregarded in the following calculations. Still, the military consumption of energy definitely calls for the histo- rian’s attention, and could become a stimulating subject for future research. It is important to stress that in the following time series, I have only taken into consideration energy sources having a cost (not just in monetary terms) for human beings. I have disregarded free energy sources -e.g., solar light- sometimes included in similar studies examining the theme of energy from a biological, ecological, or physical point of view. An- nual production of biomass not exploited by human beings or working animals as an energy source is not included ei- ther. Thus, I have not regarded as part of the energy balance the annual production of biomass not collected by human Energy sources 13 beings in a forest (or collected for construction purposes), or the grass of a meadow not consumed by the animals ex- ploited by human beings for food or work. On the contrary, the grass eaten by an ox used by peasants becomes part of human energy consumption, either as “fuel” for the animal, if the animal is used for work, or as food if it or its products are eaten (whether in the form of milk, cheese, or meat).