US Energy History

  • Coal Production

    Coal Production
    Commercial production of coal begins near Richmond, Virinia
  • Lightning as Electricity

    Lightning as Electricity
    Benjamin Franklin discovers that lightning is electricity, This leads to the development of electricity.
  • Period: to

    Industrial Revolution

    The world starts to turn from a labor-based system to a machine-based system. This uses many coal-powered machines, and used much more energy than ever before.
  • Street Lights

    Street Lights
    Street lights are lit up using gas made from coal in Baltimore, Maryland.
  • Electric Motor

    Electric Motor
    Michael Faraday creates the first electric motor.
  • Drilling for Gas

    Drilling for Gas
    Edwin Drake is the first person to drill for oil and is successful. He drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania.
  • Coal-Powered Station

    Coal-Powered Station
    Thomas Edison creates the first coal-powered station in NYC and it provides houses electricity.
  • Solar One

    Solar One
    The University of Delaware builds Solar One, which is one of the first solar energy collectors.
  • Nuclear Energy

    Nuclear Energy
    Nuclear energy replaces hydropower as the number two source of energy in the US.
  • Dam

    Dam
    The Guri Dam, the second largest dam in the world, begins providing energy in Venezuela.
  • Kyoto Protocol

    Kyoto Protocol
    The Kyoto Protocol comes into force. This protocol declares that industrialized nations need to reduce their CO2 emissions as well as other green house gasses by 5.2% of the 1990 numbers.