The silk road to riches: How you can profit by investing in Asia’s newfound prosperity

Chapter 8. Fueling Global Growth

The histories of energy, industrialization, and economic growth are inextricably intertwined.

Steam power produced by burning coal made the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century possible. With the advent of an efficient steam engine in the 1800s, factories no longer needed to be located near natural sources of energy, such as rivers. Mechanized, steam-powered factories proved to be vastly more efficient at producing goods than traditional handmade methods. Coal made it possible for more goods to be produced at cheaper costs, and factories sprung up across the Western world.

Without fossil fuels such as coal or oil, it’s difficult and expensive to transport goods. Coal-fired trains sped the development of America’s ...