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History of Alternative Enegry
Ethanol and Biofuels
In 1937 in Atchison, Kansas the biofuel Agrol debuted. A Midwestern product primarily, it used the slogan “try a tankful —you’ll be thankful.” The product was used from Indiana to South Dakota. Promotional material noted it was “made from American Farm Products.” Two types of fuel were available that Agrol 5 with between five to seven percent alcohol and Agrol 10 with 12% to nearly 18% alcohol. At its peak, Agrol could be found at over 2000 service stations across the greater Midwest. Atchison has the distinction of being the first ethanol plant in the U.S. However, the origin of ethanol and related biofuels stretches back a century earlier.
Before the discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania, the predominant fuel was camphene, also known as “burning fluid.” This fuel blended ethyl alcohol with 20% to 50% turpentine, which colored the fuel. Camphor oil was added to mitigate the turpentine odor. Distilleries during this era sold 33% to 80% of their product for fuel use. In 1834, S. Casey of Lebanon, Maine received the first patent employing alcohol as a lighting fuel. By 1860, distilleries produced more than 90 million gallons of alcohol as a fuel for lighting.
During the Civil War, in a move to fund the war, President Lincoln added a two dollar Spirits Tax which included ethanol. This tax effectively ended the use of ethanol as fuel source for nearly 45 years. Searching for an alternative for oil, President Teddy Roosevelt lobbied Congress to repeal the tax on ethanol. By the end of World War I, ethanol production reached 50 million gallons a year. Within the next few years, research demonstrated the superiority of alcohol to gasoline as a fuel source. Over 2000 tests conducted by the U.S. Geological Service and the U.S. Navy claimed much higher engine compression ratios were achieved by using alcohol instead of gasoline.
Though his name is today synonymous with petroleum diesel fuel, this was not the original aim of Rudolph Diesel, who did pioneering work on building an engine for the French government that would run on peanut oil. The French government planned to use these vegetable fuels in their colonial holdings around the world. Dr. Diesel died in 1913 shortly after the widespread availability of petroleum. This resulted in the invention to match the properties of petroleum diesel fuel.
In 2008, President Bush and the Department of Energy unveiled the National Biofuels Action Plan to help create a sustainable biofuel industry.
Wind Power
Wind power for water-pumping windmills greatly aided the settlement of the American West. The abundant wind allowed for the retrieval of groundwater in these dry regions. Daniel Halladay’s model allowed him to form Halladay Wind Mill Company in 1857. The development of Halladay’s Wind Mill coincided with the construction of the transcontinental railroad as the water powered the locomotives. Additionally, western settlers made ample use of this technology. One estimate puts the number of windmills used in the American west at this time at over six million.
Approximately 30 years later, Cleveland, Ohio reported the use of the first windmill to use electricity in 1888. Known as the Brush Wind Turbine, an article published in Scientific American in 1890 noted, “[I]t has been in constant operation more than two years and has proved in every respect a complete success.” Building upon the work of Charles F. Brush, the Jacob brothers, Marcellus and Joe, started their Jacobs Wind Electric Company in 1927. For approximately 30 years, they sold over 30,000 units.
In 1975, several governmental organizations funded the development of 13 wind turbines, marking the first federal involvement with wind power. In 1980, U.S. Windpower installed 20 wind turbines in New Hampshire, creating the world’s first wind farm. The company eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1996 because of issues with the turbine technology.
Hydroelectric
The middle and late 19th century saw the development of other energy sources beyond biofuels and wind power. In the evening on September 30, 1882, the first hydroelectric power station in North America opened in Appleton, Wisconsin. This plant initially lit three buildings, one residence and two paper mills. Citizens of Appleton described them “as bright as day.” The purchase of a second dynamo allowed for the Waverly House to be the first hotel illuminated by electric light in the western United States. Fifty years later, construction on the Hoover Dam began and the project was completed in 1935. When it opened, Hoover Dam was the largest hydroelectric producer in the world, a distinction it retained until 1948.
Geothermal
Boise, Idaho was home to the first geothermal heating system. Built in 1892, it created heat for 200 homes and 40 businesses in downtown Boise. Presently, Boise has four district heating systems that provide heat to over 5 million square feet of residential, business, and government spaces.
Discovered in the 1800s north of San Francisco, it was only in the 1920s that John D. Grant attempted to harness
the energy of the geysers. Grant drilled a geothermal well and used a direct current generator to light the geysers resort. Problems with the ability of the equipment to withstand the geothermal steam and other technical hurdles prevented this from becoming a viable alternative at the time, but it remains the first use of geothermal power in the world. Fourty years later, a full-scale plant was built at this location in the early 1960s.
In 1970, Congress allows the leasing of public lands for geothermal energy development but excludes territory in the National Park System.
Nuclear Power
Five years after the passage of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 and the establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission, the first nuclear reactor for energy production was built at Argonne National Laboratory in Idaho. In 1954, Congress passed the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which permitted the use of nuclear power for peaceful means. In December 1957, the first commercial nuclear power plant opened in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. The Duquesne Light Company operated this plant until its decommissioning in 1982.
Solar Power
Scientists at Bell Laboratories developed the first silicon solar cell capable of producing electricity in 1953. A story in the New York Times proclaimed “the beginning of a new era, leading eventually to the realization of harnessing the almost limitless energy of the sun for the uses of civilization.” A short five years later in 1958, Dr. Hans Ziegler convinced the U.S. Navy to use solar cells and chemical batteries to power a secret satellite orbiting earth. The batteries die quickly, but the solar cells successfully power the satellite.
In the 1970s, the Exxon Corporation funded work by Dr. Eliot Berman that reduced the cost of solar cells from $100 a watt to $20 a watt making this technology more cost-effective and feasible for use. In 1977, the Solar Energy Research Institute is founded in Golden, Colorado making it the first federal facility dedicated to the development of solar power. In this same year, President Carter creates the Department of Energy. A year later, the Tohono O’odham Reservation in Schuchuli, Arizona becomes the world’s first solar powered village.
In 1991 the Institute is designated a national laboratory and the name is changed to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In 1996, a solar plant outside of Barstow, California named Solar Two demonstrates the viability of the storage of solar energy.
The 2009 Recovery Act signed by President Obama designated $467 million for solar and geothermal energy development. In 2014, the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant opens in the Mohave Desert. It is named Ivanpah and has the capacity to fuel over 94,000 homes using clean fuel.
Other Energy Alternatives
In the Apollo and Gemini space missions of the 1960s and 1970s, technology is developed to use hydrogen and oxygen to power fuel cells for these missions. Fuel cell technology provides yet another renewable energy source.
In 1990 and 1996, Congress passed legislation aimed at expanding hydrogen power development in the United States. In 2003, President George W. Bush authorized $1.2 billion of research and development through the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative.
Conclusion
The breadth and scope of the various forms of alternative energy demonstrates that the U.S. has a long history of attempting to develop alternative fuels to replace fossil fuels. While this transition will take time, these and other measures by some of states demonstrate a commitment to alternative energy development. In 2019, the governor of New Mexico signed into law a goal of being 100% reliant on renewable energy by 2050. California has committed to banning gaspowered cars by 2035. The next few decades should see advancements in a variety of these alternative sources of energy throughout the United States.
