abstract:

After World War I, many European nations no longer wanted to depend on foreign fossil fuels and sought national renewable sources. In France, inhabitants of the forest regions of south-west advocated wood as a technological alternative for fuel, envisaging the transformation of forest waste into an inexhaustible energy source for cars and trucks. Despite the lobbying efforts of political and military leaders, wood fuels failed to gain enough momentum in France. Because of the huge variety of production techniques required specially adapted machines, the challenge to the primacy of petroleum fell short. It mirrors the current debates on establishing a post-fossil fuel world as it shows that the overabundance of technological alternatives may prevent any one of them from reaching a critical mass. The article engages in a dialogue between history of technology and sustainability studies by trying to understand the promises and failures of the past alternatives to the petroleum-based technological paradigm.

摘要：

第一次世界大战后，许多欧洲国家不再希望依靠外国化石燃料，而是寻求本国的可再生资源。在法国，西南森林地区的居民提倡使用木材作为燃料的技术替代品，并设想将森林废弃物转化为汽车和卡车的取之不尽的能源。尽管政治和军事领导人进行了游说，但在法国，木质燃料未能获得足够的发展势头。由于需要专门改装的机器的生产技术种类繁多，对石油至高无上的挑战未能实现。它反映了当前关于建立后化石燃料世界的辩论，因为它表明过多的技术替代品可能会阻止其中任何一种达到临界数量。