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Japan uses waste paper to create new paper.
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"Sir Isaac Newton builds a generator consisting of a rotating glass sphere." The design is later improved with a metal chain intended to capture electricity by friction.
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In 1801, William Symington, a British engineer, created a "practical steamboat" for towing barges on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland. He demonstrated his boat on a run from New York City to Albany on the Hudson River in 1805.
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In 1880, Pierre Currie discovered the piezoelectric effect, which occurs when electricity is produced as a result of pressure.
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In 1890, Nikola Tesla was the first to create an "alternate current" or AC generator, which allows electricity to be transmitted across long distances.
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In 1900, the first off-shore oil wells are drilled.
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In 1930, the first commercial use of geothermal energy took place in Boise, Idaho. The operation included a 1000-foot well that was drilled in 1926. The first "down hole heat exchanger" used to heat the well was created by Charlie Leib in Klamath Falls.
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In 1941, Palmer Cosslet Putnam invented the very first wind turbine in Grandpa's Knob, Vermont. The "tip-to-tip" diameter was 175 feet. It continued to supply electricity to the area until it lost a blade and had to be shut down in 1945.
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UNOCAL builds the country's first geothermal plant in Brawley, California.
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In 1990, General Motor Corps. introduces an electric car at the Greate LA Auto Show.
