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Birth
of an Electric Power Industry
Ever
since Benjamin Franklin flew his kite in a thunderstorm
nearly 250 years ago, thus demonstrating that lightning
was a form of electricity, Pennsylvania has been in
the forefront of efforts to harness this "fire
from heaven" and turn it into a tool for human
progress.
Soon
after Thomas Edison's first successful experiments with
electric lighting in Sunbury, electric generating stations
began to go up in nearly all major Pennsylvania cities,
and Pennsylvania's electric utility industry was born.
Utilities were small, usually serving a single municipality
and operating on Edison's direct current (DC), which
could be transmitted only a short distance.
George
Westinghouse's commercialization of Nikola Tesla's multi-phase
system of alternating current (AC), over the bitter
opposition of Edison, allowed for long-distance transmission
of electric current and paved the way for the consolidation
of the utility industry, which could finance the construction
of much larger generating plants located near the coal
mines that provided their fuel. The economies
of scale realized by the consolidation of the electric
utility industry produced a steady decline in the cost
of providing electric service.
Electricity Comes of Age
The great diversity of electricity and the steady decline
in the cost of service made it the preferred form of
energy for the home, the business office, and the manufacturing
plant. From lighting, electricity moved to transportation,
heating, cooling , and running motors - small ones for
home appliances, large ones for industry.
By the middle of the 20th century, heavy industry's
role in Pennsylvania's economy had peaked, and the
Commonwealth was already charting a route to an electrical
future.
The electronic media had their birth in Pennsylvania
when Pittsburgh radio station KDKA began regularly scheduled
broadcasts in 1920. The first complete television
station was developed at the Westinghouse laboratories
in Pittsburgh, and commercial nuclear power was born
at Shippingport, Pennsylvania, in 1957.
Energy
Association of Pennyslvania
301 APC Building | 800 North Third Street | Harrisburg,
PA 17102
Phone: 717-901-0600 | Fax: 717-901-0611
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EAPA's
Organization
EAPA's Committees
EAPA's
Task Forces
Electricity Firsts in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania's
Electric Industry
Protecting
the Environment
Energy
Around the World
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