A Brief History
On September 4, 1882, the Pearl Street Station opened for business in New York City, the first commercial provider of electric power to customers. Built and operated by the Edison Illuminating Company, a new era began of providing the public with mass quantities of electric power.
Digging Deeper
In the century plus since 1882, the US has seen an electrical grid fed by over 11,000 utility type electric plants. Coal originally fired most electric plants, but today natural gas provides over 38% of our electricity. Coal accounts for 22%, while nuclear energy provides almost 19% of our electricity. Wind power is the biggest renewable electric source at 9% of our current, while hydro power provides about 6%. Solar generated electricity and other sources are still minor players at this time.
The cost of electricity, in money and to the environment, causes us to ask, “Should electric production be a government function, or should commercial plants be allowed to sell current to the public?”
Question for students (and subscribers): Should all homes have their own emergency generator? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Bakke, Gretchen. The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future. Bloomsbury USA, 2017.
Willrich, Mason. Modernizing America’s Electricity Infrastructure. The MIT Press, 2017.
The featured image in this article, Edison’s first central power plant for direct current (DC) ay Pearl Street, New York City, is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer.
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