Some years ago I had a discussion with Ian Morris about his The Measure of Civilization, and I asked him: Which pre-industrial (pre-1500) society was the richest in terms of energy per capita? What's your answer? (my answer tomorrow)
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A clever way to estimate use of water-mills, wind-mills, and cranes is by measuring their frequency in surviving manuscripts and illustrations. Windmills and water-mills make far more energy per capita than the normal pre-industrial hand-mills and animal-powered mills.pic.twitter.com/l4y2UG5aKx
You might like this book, which by an amazing coincidence was written by the father of the VC Mike Moritz:https://www.amazon.com/Grain-Mills-Flour-Classical-Antiquity-Moritz/dp/0198142218 …
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Thanks
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Thanks, both! Turning, again, to our "energy bible", Smil estimates that an overshot water mill could deliver 3.5 kW of power. From the Domesday Book (England, 1086) we know there was one mill per 350 people. So this source of energy only added 10 W per capita.
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