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Jan 1, 1300
Wind Power Plant
The first horizontal-axis pinwheels appeared in Western Europe. -
Turbine Engine
Italian architect Giovanni Branca invents a primative turbine consisting of a boiler with a spout to direct steam against wooden blades of a wheel. -
Coal
Coal was founded near Richmond, Virginia. -
Natural Gas
William Hart digs the first successful well that was intended to produce natural gas in Fredonia, New York. -
Petroleum
Oil was first discovered near Titusville, Pensylvania when a homemade rig drilled down 70 feet and came coated up with oil. This rig was owned by "Colonel" Edwin L. Drake. -
Solar Power Plant
Auguste Mouchout, a mathmatics instructor from France, was able to convert solar radiation directly into mechnical power. -
Hydropower Plant
Hydropower was beginning to be used for electricity. The first hydroelectric plants were direct current (DC) stations used to power nearby arc and incandescent lighting. -
Geothermal Plant
The first dry stream geothermal power plant was built in Laderello in Tuscany, Italy. -
First Nuclear Power Plant
The world's first full-scale nuclear power plant becomes operational at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. It was named "The Shippingport Atomic Power Station". -
First Mass-Produced Electric Car
The General Motors EV1 was an electric car produced and leased by the General Motors Corporation from 1996 to 1999. It was the first mass-produced and purpose-designed electric vehicle of the modern era from a major automaker, and the first GM car designed to be an electric vehicle from the outset.
