The United States' path to becoming the world's largest energy consumer was largely chosen by market forces and government intervention. The role of culture on energy use is negligible compared to the influences of economic and political factors. The choices to adopt several new methods of energy production were driven by support for these energies to create wealth or save money for those using the new energy and by government support through subsidies direct and indirect. One can examine the transitions to coal, oil, nuclear power, and current transitions to green energy to see that market forces are the dominant factor in the dramatic increase in energy consumption in states. -United. Coal was at the forefront of energy production. before another source came into widespread use. Wood, wind, water, and muscle power provided almost all energy before the widespread adoption of coal. The greater energy density of coal provides greater efficiency than these other methods of generating electricity; combine this greater efficiency with its ease of transportation and coal easily becomes the fuel of a nation. In its early days, coal was mined and consumed in England, a country short of wood and usable water power. This shortage in other regions left a gap that relatively cheap coal could fill. Coal allowed industry and manufacturing to grow and generate profits greater than almost any other industry. Coal gained its popularity primarily because it had economic value in that it provided energy in quantities and locations inaccessible to other energy sources of the time. This start in England gave impetus to...... middle of paper ......er came to this point of view and increased the consumption of new energy sources. The United States became the world's largest user of energy because free market economics and government energy subsidies made energy consumption the easiest path to take.BibliographyFreese, Barbara. Coal, a human story. New York: Penguin Books, 2003Gutfreund, Owen D. 20th-Century Sprawl, Highways, and the Reshaping of the American Landscape, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.Madrigal, Alex. Fueling the dream, the story and the promise of green technology. New York: Da Capo Press, 2011. Nye, David, Consuming Power, A Social History of American Energy. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1998. Walker, J. Samuel. Three Mile Island. Berkley: University of California Press, 2004. Yergin, Daniel. The prize, the epic quest for oil, money and power. New York: Free Press, 1991.