The problem with charcoal is that the input fuelwood requirements are absolutely immense, particularly where charcoal itself is an input to further industrial p

The problem with charcoal is that the input fuelwood requirements are absolutely immense, particularly where charcoal itself is an input to further industrial processes (e.g., glassmaking, iron forging, steelmaking). Great Britain had cleared its own forests by the 18th century or earlier just producing modest quantities of glass and iron, and was importing lumber from Sweden and the American colonies (both as fuel and structural timber). Vaclav Smil's numerous books go into great detail on the fuelwood demands of iron production. Based on an earlier comment of mine, that's 40--80 kg of source fuelwood per kg of produced iron. Charcoal is renewable but it is far from limitless. In other matters, you're giving Murphy short shrift.