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Sep 30, 1000
Coal
Coal from the Fu-shun mine in northeastern China was used to smelt copper.. "Stones" used as fuel were said to have been produced in China during the Han dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE). -
Sep 30, 1500
Oil Lamp - Light
Leonardo Da Vinci invented an oil lamp with a glass chimney that acted as a lens, concentrating the light and for use at night. This is would we would mondernly refer to as a light seen on a night stand or desk. -
Steamboat
British engineer William Symington developed a practical steamboat for towing barges on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland. Then in 1807, the Robert Fulton successfully demonstrated his steamboat by doing a run between New York City and Albany on the Hudson River. -
Street Coal
David Melville received a patent for his apparatus for making coal gas. This coal gas was used for street lighting and was widespread in the United States, -
Thermodynamics
Rudolf Clausius discovers the first statement of the second law of thermodynamics, restated by Clausius in 1865 as "entropy always increases in a closed system." This means, energy in a closed system will change toward heat and disorder. -
Generators
Nikola Tesla developed an A.C. (alternate current) generator which enabled electricity to be transmitted longer distances. The first plant is built on the Willamette River near Oregon City, Ore. -
Oil Rigs
The first offshore oil rigs were built of the coast of the United States. -
Fire - 700,000 BC
A thick ash layer formed between 700,000 BCE and 40,000 BCE in L Escale Cave in southeastern France. This layer has been viewed as earliest known evidence of fire used by hominids in Europe. -
Greenhouse
The first commercial greenhouse use of geothermal energy is done in Boise, Idaho. The operation used a 1000-foot well drilled in 1926. -
Geothermal Plant
UNOCAL builds the country's first flash geothermal plant, generating 10 MW at Brawley, California.
