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Sir Issac Newton builds an electric generator consisting of a rotating glass sphere. The same year, F. Hawksbee improves the design by using a metal chain to capture the electricity generated by friction
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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
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Jacob Perkins invents a radiator for use with hot water central heating.
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William Robert Grove succeeds in lighting an auditorium with expensive incandescent lamps that use platinum coils in inverted glasses sealed with wate
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ikola Tesla develops A.C. (alternate current) generators enabling electricity to be transmitted longer distances. The first plant is built on the Willamette River near Oregon City, Ore.
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The first offshore oil wells are drilled
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Charles Proteus Steinmetz warns in Future of Electricity about air pollution from burning coal and water pollution from uncontrolled sewage disposal into rivers
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Landflling is introduced and becomes a popular disposal method.
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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
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The first wind turbine to generate energy for an alternating current central power system was placed in service in Grandpa's Knob, Vt. It was phased into the Central Vermont Public Service Corporation's system. Synchronized operation continued for two hou
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The first nuclear reactor in England goes into operation at Windscale
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Hoffman Electronics achieves 14-percent efficiency rate for its photovoltaics cells
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UNOCAL builds the country's first flash geothermal plant, generating 10 MW at Brawley, California
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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)
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Instead of going down, as deregulation supporters had hoped, wholesale electricity rates in California begin to rise - as much as 300%
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The Calif. Public Utilities Commission grants Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Southern California Edison Company an interim surcharge to raise rates. The temporary surcharge was in effect for 90 days
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The Energy Commission approved the Burbank power plant, bringing the total of licensed power plants since 1999 to 36. Of those, 18 were online producing 4,976 megawatts. Another 14 plants were awaiting licensing
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CEC Commissioner Art Rosenfeld, the 'father of energy efficiency in buildings,' received the Benjamin Ide Weeler (former University of California president) Medal from the Berkeley Community Fund
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One company AGRA Biofuels has announced that it will build no less than 11 biodiesel plants in Pennsylvania in the next five years. Another company, Keystone Biofuels has a new plant
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British Petroleum launched sulfur-free fuels in Edinburgh, saying the fuels would be the cleanest available anywhere in the UK and were 6 years ahead of the European Union
