Originally Posted by
randya
the rise of the automobile coincided with the development of oil extraction and refining capabilities, the fledgling US oil industry needed to develop a demand for their product so that prices wouldn't collapse due to over-supply, and they marketed their product as cheap fuel for transportation purposes; the initial development of oil in the US and the rise of the personal automobile go hand in hand.
Little did we know at the time what the downside would be, and I'm speaking mostly of the environmental impacts of all sorts that go along with the production, refining, storage and combustion of large quantities of fossil fuels, to say nothing of the modern geopolitical realities of a world in which the US no longer controls the major supplies and is a now a net importer of petroleum.
Actually, the first major use of petroleum was for lighting in the 1850's where it started to replace expensive vegetable oils and the very expensive whale oil, a commodity so valuable long before the automobile that several species of whales were threatened with extinction.
Half a century later, certainly the triumph of the gasoline engine over its competitors was made possible by cheap oil. Standard Oil and Shell and others were huge, powerful companies long before the automobile came along.
The Prize, Daniel Yergin, is a fascinating read.