Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumWhat did Edison think about the way we should get our electricity?
Thomas Edison holding one of the batteries used to power his early electric car, the Baker.
Yet Edison, godfather of electricity-intensive living, was also an unlikely green pioneer whose ideas about renewable power still resonate today. At the turn of the 20th century, when Edison was at the height of his career, the notion that buildings, which now account for more than a third of all energy consumed in the United States, would someday require large amounts of power was only just coming into focus. Where that power would come from central generating stations or in-home plants; fossil fuels or renewable resources was still very much up for debate.
A 1901 article about Edison in The Atlanta Constitution described how his unorthodox ideas about batteries could bring wattage to the countryside: With a windmill coupled to a small electric generator, a rural inhabitant could bottle up enough current to give him light at night. The earliest wind-powered house was fired up in Cleveland in 1888 by the inventor Charles Brush, but Edison aspired to take the technology to the masses. He made drawings of a windmill to power a cluster of four to six homes, and in 1911 he pitched manufacturers on building a prototype.
Edisons batteries also fueled some cars and trucks, and he joined forces with Henry Ford to develop an electric automobile that would be as affordable and practical as the Model T. The Constitution article discussed plans to let people recharge their batteries at plug-in sites along trolley lines; the batteries could also be refreshed courtesy of the home windmill.
Talented not only at devising new technologies...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/magazine/03wwln-essay-t.html?_r=1
riverbendviewgal
(4,253 posts)My late husband was fascinated with Nikola Tesla....who battled with Edison...
Who do you think had the better ideas?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)The man was brilliant, and Edison screwed him over. I wonder if Bill Gates is related to Edison.
thought we could go wireless...he had better ideas.
kristopher
(29,798 posts)I'm pretty sure that is possible...
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)Edison, marketer of other peoples' ideas.
Swindled Tesla, in Fact.
Bastard.
madokie
(51,076 posts)but all I get is Http/1.1 Service Unavailable
kristopher
(29,798 posts)Don't know what to say except maybe google the first sentence and then follow their link.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)NYTimes.com
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dougolat
(716 posts)PamW
(1,825 posts)Edison also wanted our electricity to be DC, and not AC.
So why should we care in the 21st century what Edison would have done?
PamW
diane in sf
(3,918 posts)PamW
(1,825 posts)Last edited Wed May 9, 2012, 10:23 AM - Edit history (1)
What's rude about pointing out that Edison favored DC over AC??
It's a good thing we went with AC. Do you like watching TV? Do you know why TV's refresh their screens at a rate of 60 times per second? ( The old 480i "interlaced" NTSC TV format refreshed half the TV lines - odd lines on one sweep, even lines the next sweep - at 60 times per second so the net refresh rate was 30 frames per second ).
The reason TVs refreshed their screens at 60 times per second is that they used the 60 Hz or 60 cycles per second AC power as a timing reference. We wouldn't be able to do that with DC power, because there's no timing reference.
Electric clocks also work off the 60 Hz power as a timing reference.
Edison didn't anticipate the need for electric power to also serve as a timing reference. So why be bound to what Edison wanted?
PamW