[achatham]

The first big investments in petroleum were for lighting via relatively clean-burning kerosene. Petroleum as a fuel came later, when they had a lot kerosene byproduct lying around. There's a obvious problem with solar as a lighting solution: you also need good batteries.

[_wire_]

> There's a obvious problem with solar as a lighting solution: you also need good batteries.

Or networks of mirrors.

My thinking gets stuck on the observation that before petrol, literacy after dusk was powered by the wax of bees and the blubber of whales.