That's a great article, thanks for linking to it. Energy can explain so much about human endeavours in so few words.
I've read quite a lot of history, but Richard Rhodes' book Energy, A Human History, gave me a perspective unlike any other.
Who would have thought that the laws of thermodynamics would be so important a mechanism for social science? Well, I suppose physicists might, but social scientists usually not.
(circa 1600-1700, highest per capita income of the world, 60% urbanization)
– was also (mostly?) powered by a fossil fuel : peat. (Which drowned their country in the process of digging it.)
https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/09/peat-and-coal-fossil...