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Alternative Energy Timeline
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Worlds First Flex Fuel Automobile
In 1908, Henry Ford designed and mass produced the first automobile that the general population could purchase. Buying a car was now affordable for workers. This car was the first to use alcohol fuel or gasoline. There was a brass knob you could pull and switch which fuel they were using. Alcohol fuel was weaker, you would use more fuel to get the same amount of energy compared to gasoline.
There is a Documentary movie called The Pump on Netflix on the history of this vehicle. -
First Commercial Wind Turbines Sold to Generate Electricity on Remote Farms
Many farms did not have electricity because it was too expensive to ran and to get a lot of gasoline to their properties. Two brothers, Marcellus and Joe Jacobs, made a Wind Turbine that farmers could afford to purchase and run. They copied design from water pump mills. They changed the blades to airplane propellers. -
First US Satellite in Orbit Utilizes Solar Cells for Power
The Vanguard I was the first solar-powered satellite to orbit the Earth. The US Navy was mainly responsible for building it, but the Army and AIr Force also helped. Solar cells lasted for 7 yrs where batteries lasted 20 days. The Vanguard was modeled after the German V-2 and Viking rockets. Solar cells were successful at powering satilites. They even built 3 more like it that year called Explorer III, Vanguard II and Sputnik 3. -
Solar Two Plant Demonstrates Low Cost Method of Storing Solar Energy
The Solar Two Power Tower was built to replace Solar One in Barstow, California. Solar Two was built by a variety of US utility companies, and the Department of Energy. It's pupose was to more effiently store energy for future use for a lower cost. They succeded in collecting power from the sun while shining, yet useing it to macke electricity when sun was not shining or at night.
