New Books Network Wout Saelens, "Fossil Consumerism: Energy, Ecology and Everyday Life in the Early Modern Low Countries" (Leuven UP, 2026)
Apr 4, 2026
Wout Saelens, early modern historian and author of Fossil Consumerism, traces how household choices in the Low Countries drove early fossil fuel use. He discusses shifts in stoves and heating, changing domestic routines and gendered labor, regional fuel differences, and how warmth became a cultural ideal amid rising indoor pollution.
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Household Shift Was Cultural Not Just Technological
- The rise of fossil consumerism combined energy, consumption, and environmental histories to explain household fuel shifts.
- Wout Saelens shows coal and peat adoption wasn't inevitable but a cultural shift toward valuing indoor warmth over ventilation.
Homes, Not Just Factories, Root Fossil Dependence
- Combining energy, consumption, and environmental histories reveals indoor pollution and domestic roots of the Anthropocene.
- Saelens reframes fossil fuel history away from factories toward everyday home choices and perceptions of smoke.
Fuel Types Drove Different Heating Technologies
- Fuel type reshaped fireplace design and portable heaters across the Low Countries.
- Southern households adopted cast iron stoves for coal while northern homes used compact fireplaces and footstoves for peat.
