5.8 Energy Timeline

By 56994
  • Discovery of Electricity

    Discovery of Electricity

    Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity by tying a key to a kite string during a thunderstorm.
  • First Electric Battery

    First Electric Battery

    Alessandro Volta invented the first electric battery
  • Coal Use (1800's)

    Coal Use (1800's)

    • Coal became the principal fuel used by locomotives.
    • An increasing number of households and steamboats used coal for fuel.
    • Coal was used to produce oil and gas for lighting.
  • First Lamp

    First Lamp

    Sir Humphry Davy invented the first effective lamp. The lamp was a piece of carbon that glowed when connected to a battery.
  • Coal Street Lights

    Coal Street Lights

    Baltimore, Maryland, became the first city to light streets with gas made from coal.
  • Discovery of Oil in U.S.

    Discovery of Oil in U.S.

    Oil was first discovered when a homemade rig drilled down 70 feet and came up coated with oil. This rig was owned by "Colonel" Edwin L. Drake, located in northwestern Pennsylvania.
  • Hydropower

    Hydropower

    Hydropower was beginning to be used for electricity.
  • Solar Cell

    Solar Cell

    Inventors at Bell Labs (Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson) developed a more efficient solar cell (6%) made from silicon. This was the first solar cell capable of running everyday equipment.
  • Atomic Energy Act

    Atomic Energy Act

    The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 was passed. This was the first major amendment of the original Energy Act, which gave the civilian nuclear energy program further access to nuclear technology.
  • Wind power

    Wind power

    Wind power provided 5% of renewable energy used in the U.S.
    U.S. wind power produced enough electricity, on average, to power over 2.5 million homes.
    Installed capacity of wind-powered was more than four times the capacity in 2000.