Why did it take so long for humans to utilise fossil fuels?

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Fuels with high calorific values like coal and oil had been discovered in ancient times, but weren't so useful then. They weren't easy to mine, for starters. But more importantly, more readily available fuels like charcoal, olive oil, wood, peat, etc. were good enough.

One of the (if not the) major contributors to the adoption of fossil fuels was the gradual introduction of blast furnaces. They allowed to reach the higher temperatures needed to improve smelting techniques. They were initially fueled with charcoal; coke was introduced shortly after.

Denis de Bernardy 23183

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Source: stackoverflow.com

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