Historical Energy Events

By D-Ray3
  • Coal from the Fu-shun mine in northeastern China may have been used to smelt copper as early as 1000 BCE.
    1000 BCE

    Coal from the Fu-shun mine in northeastern China may have been used to smelt copper as early as 1000 BCE.

  • Hugh Platt discovers coke, a charcoal-like substance produced by heating coal.

    Hugh Platt discovers coke, a charcoal-like substance produced by heating coal.

  • Electric Generator

    Electric Generator

    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
  • Offshore Oil Wells

    Offshore Oil Wells

    The first offshore oil wells are drilled.
  • First Wind Turbine

    First Wind Turbine

    The first wind turbine to generate energy for an alternating current central power system was placed in service in Grandpa's Knob, Vt.
  • First Nuclear Reactor

    First Nuclear Reactor

    The first nuclear reactor in England goes into operation at Windscale.
  • U.S.Environmental Protection Agency

    U.S.Environmental Protection Agency

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is created.
  • First Flash Geothermal Plant

    First Flash Geothermal Plant

    UNOCAL builds the country's first flash geothermal plant, generating 10 MW at Brawley, California.
  • Electrical Vehicle

    Electrical 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).
  • The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority

    The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority

    The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) announces it is preparing to break ground on its first utility-scale solar plant, a 27.5-megawatt (MW) project on 300 acres in a Navajo community south of Monument Valley, Arizona

  • Sources

    http://energyquest.ca.gov/time_machine/time_machine_date.php
    https://www.energy.gov/management/timeline-events-2016