-
transportation and wind
British engineer William Symington developed a practical steamboat for towing barges on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland. In 1807, the American inventor Robert Fulton successfully demonstrated his steamboat by making a run between New York City and Albany on the Hudson River. -
lamp
Warren De la Rue encloses a platinum coil in an evacuated glass tube and passes electricity through it in the first recorded attempt to produce an incandescent lamp. -
Second law of 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." In other words, energy in a closed system will change toward heat and disorder. -
piezoelectric effect
Pierre Curie discovers the piezoelectric effect that certain substances produce and electric current as a result of pressure on them. -
Oil-Petroleum
The first offshore oil wells are drilled. -
Landfilling
Landflling is introduced and becomes a popular disposal method. -
geothermal
The first commercial greenhouse use of geothermal energy is undertaken in Boise, Idaho. The operation utilizes a 1000-foot well drilled in 1926. In Klamath Falls, Charlie Lieb develops the first down-hole heat exchanger (DHE) to heat his. -
nuclear
The first nuclear reactor in England goes into operation at Windscale. -
USA environmental protection agency
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is created. -
electric vehicle
General Motors Corp. introduces an Electric Vehicle at the Greater LA Auto Show: the Impact (later refined into the sporty EV1, available for lease as of January 1995).
