In an alternate history work of fiction, what would be a good way to rationalize/justify a world in which there is no usage of fossil fuels?
I think in this alternate history / worldbuilding idea, the physical matter still exists - there is coal, oil, etc, in the earth, but I am wondering if we can come up with a satisfying reason why humans could not make use of anything more efficient than peat in production. Is there a scientific-sounding explanation that could be given to make a world in which coal and oil are useless in industry?
I have been reading “The Future is Degrowth” and “The Origin of Capitalism” and that is what inspired this. The first book says something along the lines of “the capitalism we know, of endless accumulation, is fundamentally a fossil capitalism”. The second book makes a very convincing case that what existed in England centuries before fossil fuels was already distinctly (agrarian) capitalist. Interest in everyone’s thoughts and ideas about how this could be constructed, and what sort of events could play it out in the cradle of capitalism but also worldwide.
Yes, charcoal and vegetable oil but also sugarcane ethanol has proven to be a very effective fuel for smaller engines such as those of cars. In the end though, if such a large portion of the energy economy is supplied by large fuel-producing plantations, hydroelectric dams may look more palatable than nuclear power plants due to the skipped developments in coal mining and such. But now I think my speculation is reaching “it can be whatever the writer wants it to be” levels.