Also, the higher the voltage, the smaller the wire can be used. The more resistance exists, the more electricity is lost as heat. By increasing voltage, resistance is reduced. This is due to Ohm’s law: I = V/R, where I = current, V = voltage, and R = resistance. Think back to the VHS vs Betamax format war of the 70s and early 80s – only one was going to survive.ĪC had a decided advantage over DC for the transportation of electricity over long distances, as it was much easier and cheaper to “step-up” and “step-down” voltage. A competitor to Edison’s direct current (DC) technology was George Westinghouse’s alternating current (AC) technology. The War of the Currents: Edison vs Tesla / WestinghouseĪs with all good business ideas, competition arose quickly to Thomas Edison’s company. (For all you car buffs: Henry Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company in 1891 and was promoted to Chief Engineer in 1893.) In addition, the Edison Illuminating Company developed similar grids in Shamokin, PA (Fall 1882), Sunbury, PA (July 4, 1883), Brockton, MA (October 1, 1883), Mount Carmel, PA (November 17, 1883), and Tamaqua, PA (1885) over the next 3 years. By 1884, the Pearl Street Station had added 3 more generators, and was serving 508 customers with 10,164 lamps. This first experiment with the electrical grid was wildly successful. Here’s what the first incarnation of the electrical grid looked like in 1882: It initially served 85 customers, providing electricity to 400 lamps. It was located at 255 – 257 Pearl Street in Manhattan. To be a little more precise, the Pearl Street Station, the first central power plant in the U.S., began producing electricity on September 4 th, 1882. Once upon a time, in a land not all that far away, the birth of the Pearl Street Station was the beginning of what we would eventually come to recognize as the modern electrical grid.
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