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2000 BCE
Chinese First to Use Coal as an Energy Source
In China, coal was used for heating and cooking. Later on, people favored wood instead of coal. -
200 BCE
Europeans Harness Water Energy to Power Mills
The Europeans used water energy to power mills and this idea spread across all of Europe. The mills were used to crush grain, full cloth, tan leather, smelt and shape iron, saw wood, and carry out a variety of other early industrial processes. -
Dutch Build Windmills for Multiple Uses
The mill reached its greatest size and its most efficient form in the hands of the Dutch engineers toward the end of the sixteenth century. The Dutch provinces developed the windmill to the fullest possible degree: it ground the grain produced on the rich meadows, it sawed the wood and it ground the spices. -
First Steam Engine Developed in England to Pump Water Out of Coal Mines
Thomas Newcomen built a steam machine close by a coal shaft in 1712 Newcomen's first machine made twelve strokes a minute, raising 10 gallons of water with each stroke. Its strength is estimated at 5.5 horsepower, not impressive to us, but the 'fire engine,' as it was sometimes called, was a sensation in power-starved Britain and Europe. -
First Natural Gas Well in US Is Drilled
In 1821, the first well specifically intended to obtain natural gas was dug in Fredonia, New York, by William Hart. After noticing gas bubbles rising to the surface of a creek, Hart dug a 27 foot well to try and obtain a larger flow of gas to the surface. Hart is regarded by many as the 'father of natural gas' in America. -
First Electric Plant Built by Thomas Edison in New York
At 3 pm on September 4, 1882, Edison threw the switch that would start up America's first power plant, serving a square-mile area that included some very wealthy and influential customers: J.P. Morgan, the Stock Exchange, and the nation's largest newspapers. -
Worlds First Flex Fuel Vehicle, the Ford Model-T, Goes into Mass Production
Ethanol-fueled vehicles date back to the 1880s when Henry Ford designed a car that ran solely on ethanol. He later built the first flex fuel vehicle: a 1908 Model T designed to operate on either ethanol or gasoline. -
Hoover Dam, the World's Largest Hydroelectric Power Plant, Is Built
The Hoover Dam stared construction in 1931 on the Colorado River in Arizona. The Hoover Dam was completed in 1935, four years after construction started. -
Department of Energy Organization Act Is Signed, Creating the US Department of Energy
In 1977, with the Nation facing its most severe winter in decades, natural gas shortages caused thousands of factory and school closings and threatened cutoffs to residential customers. On August 4, 1977, President Carter signed the Department of Energy Organization Act, consolidating more than 30 separate energy functions carried out by various government agencies, including ERDA [Energy Research and Development Administration] -
Earthquake off Coast of Japan Damages Six Powerplants at Fukushima Dai-ichi; Nuclear Crisis Eventually Reaches Level 7, the Highest Level Possible
A magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan's northeastern coast, swamping the backup diesel generators needed to cool the six reactors and spent fuel pools at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Japan's nuclear regulators raised the severity level of the crisis at a stricken nuclear plant Tuesday to rank it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The regulators said the rating was being raised from 5 to 7 - the highest level on an international scale.
