Coal becomes main source of energy for England

"In medieval Europe wood was utilized not only in many types of construction but also in most domestic and industrial heating. Then in Britain in the second half of the 16th century coal came into widespread use as a substitute for wood as fuel. The earliest coal-burning economy the world had known was established in England and then in Scotland between 1550 and 1700. The transition from woodcutting to coal mining as the main source of heat was part of an early British economic revolution . . . The substitution of coal for wood between 1550 and 1700 led to new methods of manufacturing, to the expansion of existing industries and to the exploitation of untapped natural resources."