Researched
Electrification
Central power stations and grids turn electricity into energy that anyone can get from any socket.
Open in the interactive tree →Building on Faraday's induction (1831) and Siemens' dynamo (1866), Edison opened the Pearl Street station in New York in 1882, the first direct-current grid for lighting. Alternating current from Tesla and Westinghouse then allowed transmission over long distances. Electricity became the universal energy carrier for light, motors and later computers.
Prerequisites
- Steam Engine1712
- Dynamo & Electric Motor1831-1866Generators and motors are the core machines of every power station and grid
- Electromagnetism1831-1865
- Incandescent Light Bulb1879Edison built the first central power station to sell electric light
Unlocks
- AC Power & Large Power Plants1895
- Electric Arc Furnace1900
- Vacuum Tube (Triode)1906
- Mass Production (Assembly Line)1913
- Nuclear Power1954
- Industrial Robot (Unimate)1961
- High-Speed Train1964
- Modern Wind Turbines~1980
- Mass-Produced Electric Car2008–2012
- Green Steel2021–2027Hydrogen-based green steel melts direct-reduced iron in electric arc furnaces on grid power
- Heat Pumps Scale Up2022–2026
- Lossless Power Grids2050s?
More in Energy · Industrial Age
- Wood, Charcoal & Coal~1709
- Steam Engine1712
- Voltaic Pile (First Battery)1800
- Water Turbine1827
- Dynamo & Electric Motor1831-1866
- Fuel Cell1839
- Oil & Natural Gas1859
- Rechargeable Battery1859