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The first record of coal in the United States was shown on a map made by Louis Joliet. It showed coal along the Illinos river.
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Coal was discovered near Richmond, Virginia
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By accident as Europeans began to setttle oil was discovered in northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York while they were drilling for salt brine.
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Natural gas was used in Baltimore to fuel street lamps. During the 19th century this form of natural gas was used as a lighting fuel in Europe and north America.Back then natural gas was extracted from coal.
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wood becomes the most common way to provide heat for homes,cooking, and buisnesses.
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Hydropower was beginning to be used for electricity. The first hydroelectric plants wereused to power arc and incadescent lighting. These plants were Direct Current Stations.
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Edison launches the first iteration of the modern electricity industry with the Pearl Street station, the first modern electricity generating station. The utility serves 59 customers.
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John Ericsson (United States) invented and built a solar
engine that used parabolic trough construction. -
Charles F. Brush used the first large windmill to generate electricity in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Henry Ford built his first automobile, the quadricycle, to run on pure ethanol.
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Development begins on the Niagara Falls hydroelectric project, a massive plant designed to transmit power to Buffalo, NY, more than 20 miles away. The era of central generation and long-distance transmission begins.
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The first commercial-scale development tools were placed in California at The Geysers, a 10-megawatt unit owned by Pacific Gas & Electric to produce geo-thermal energy
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Scientists began to develop the first hot dry rock (HDR) reservoir at Fenton Hill, New Mexico. An HDR power facility was tested at the site in 1978 and started to generate electricity two years later.
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Worldwide geothermal capacity reached 6,000 megawatts.
Thanks to geothermal resources a food dehydration facility in Nevada processed 15 million pounds of dried onions and garlic in a year. An assesment of 10 western states reported nearly 9,000thermal wells and springs.
