Household Firewood Consumption in Sweden during the Nineteenth Century

Household firewood consumption underwent significant changes during the industrial breakthrough. Recent literature on Sweden makes the case that greater energy efficiency drastically reduced rural household fuel consumption, while coal substituted for firewood in cities. This article shows that alth...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lindmark, Magnus, Andersson, Lars Fredrik
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Umeå University Library 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.ub.umu.se/index.php/jns/article/view/639
Description
Summary:Household firewood consumption underwent significant changes during the industrial breakthrough. Recent literature on Sweden makes the case that greater energy efficiency drastically reduced rural household fuel consumption, while coal substituted for firewood in cities. This article shows that although coal substituted for wood in some urban areas, rural firewood consumption was not reduced. Higher standards of living indicate contrary to previous results that fuel consumption increased during the industrialisation process. The study shows that households with higher standard of living consumed more fuel and that rural households, due to lower fuel prices, consumed relatively more fuel than urban households. The result shows contrary to previous research that the total energy intensity decreased more rapidly after and not before the industrial breakthrough.