The acoup blog went into detail on this topic [0]. Central idea was that early steam power was so inefficient the only way it was worthwhile was for use in coal

The acoup blog went into detail on this topic [0]. Central idea was that early steam power was so inefficient the only way it was worthwhile was for use in coal mines where the fuel was basically free. It took years of improvements to make the technology cost effective in other domains. [0] https://acoup.blog/2022/08/26/collections-why-no-roman-industrial-revolution/ https://acoup.blog/2022/08/26/collections-why-no-roman-indus...