Stories

McLaughlin was that rare breed of company: one that saw an energy transition coming — carriages to cars — and took the wheel to successfully pivot from one to the other.

When a 1914 dictionary dropped coal from its definition of “fuel,” the Standard Oil Bulletin gloated. But cheap energy is tough to displace, and hubris is ill-advised.

An early pioneer of rocket-powered travel, Max Valier is an example of the kind of bravado, vision and wild ideas required to alter the course of history.

During the Arab Oil Embargo, Canada had to use foreign tankers to transport its oil from west to east. Energy security is rarely a priority … until it’s too late.

These children’s stories might seem to be just about a whale, a caboose or a steam shovel. But they’re actually helping to shape the next generation’s energy beliefs.

As a young climbing boy meets his fate in the bowels of a tiny flue, Peter examines why the horrific practice of sending children up chimneys persisted for so long.

The 1915 utility bill of a lumber magnate gets Peter thinking about our relationship with our energy sources and the shared responsibility of consumers and producers.

In 1947 England, a man sends his daughter a postcard featuring smoke-belching factories. Why was such an image glorified? The answer is how we define prosperity.

Skeptical of gushing promises made by a fast-talking broker and slick oil company CEO, an investor visits his oil investment in 1915, leading to some timeless advice.

A once-staunch stagecoach driver sees the light and buys a Model T, never to look back. This 1914 Ford Times story shows how human need influences energy transitions.

A visit to a ghost coal-mining town reminds Peter of the recurrent maladies that still plague business attitudes today — and to look beyond the spreadsheet for answers.