Human activities are closely dependent on the usage of several forms and sources of energy to perform work. Energy is the potential that allows movement and/or the modification of matter (e.g. making steel by combining iron and carbon). The energy content of an energy source is the available energy per unit of weight or volume, but the challenge is to effectively extract and use this energy. Thus, the more energy consumed the greater the amount of work realized and it comes as no surprise that economic development is correlated with greater levels of energy consumption. There are enormous reserves of energy able to meet the future needs of mankind. Unfortunately, one of the main contemporary issues is that many of these reserves are not necessarily available at competitive costs, such as solar energy, or are unevenly distributed around the world, such as oil. Still, the competitiveness of an energy source can improve with technological development and even if some energy sources are extracted far from where they are consumed, the massification of transportation enables to move them. Through the history of mankind's use of energy, the choice of an energy source depended on a number of utility factors which involved a transition in energy systems from solid, liquid and eventually to gas sources of energy. Since the industrial revolution, efforts have been made to have work being performed by machines, which considerably improved industrial productivity. The development of steam engine and the generation and distribution of electric energy over considerable distances have also altered the spatial pattern of manufacturing industries by liberating production from a direct connection to a fixed power system. While in the earlier stages of the industrial revolution factories located close to sources of energy (a waterfall or a coal field) or raw materials, mass conveyances and new energy sources (electricity) enabled a much greater locational flexibility.

Industrial development places large demands on fossil fuels. At the turn of the 20th century, the invention and commercial development of the internal combustion engine, notably in transport equipment, made possible the efficient movement of passengers and freight and incited the development of a global trade network. With globalization, transportation is accounting for a growing share of the total amount of energy spent for implementing, operating and maintaining the international range and scope of human activities. Energy consumption has a strong correlation with the level of development. Among developed countries, transportation now accounts between 20 and 25% of the total energy being consumed. The benefits conferred by additional mobility, notably in terms of a better exploitation of comparative advantages, have so far compensated the growing amount of energy spent to support it. At the beginning of the 21st century, the transition reached a stage where fossil fuels, notably petroleum, are dominant. Out of the world’s total power production, 87.1% is derived from fossil fuels. Transportation and energy is a start a standard physics application where giving momentum to a mass (people, vehicles, cargo, etc.) requires a proportional amount of energy. The relationship between transport and energy is a direct one, but subject to different interpretations since it concerns different transport modes, each having their own utility and level of performance. There is often a compromise between speed and energy consumption, related to the desired economic returns. Passengers and high value goods can be transported by fast but energy intensive modes since the time component of their mobility tends to have a high value, which conveys the willingness to use more energy. Economies of scale, mainly those achieved by maritime transportation, are linked to low levels of energy consumption per unit of mass being transported, but at a lower speed. This fits relatively well freight transport imperatives, particularly for bulk. Comparatively, air freight has high energy consumption levels linked to high speed services.

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