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Introducing electricity to the home -

On June 7, 1882, inventor Thomas Edison and his team made history when they used electricity for the first time ever to light up a private residence in New York.

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Madison Avenue mansion -

The Madison Avenue mansion belonged to revered banker J.P. Morgan, and it was powered by a huge generator that sat in the cellar of a nearby stable.

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The status quo -

Until that day, homes had been lit by other sources, such as gas. For the vast majority of the general population, electricity was still an alien concept.

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Big dreams -

Edison was pleased with his breakthrough, but his ambitions didn't end there. He wanted to provide electricity to the whole of New York City.

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Pearl Street Station -

In September 1882, the Edison Illuminating Company opened the Pearl Street Station in Manhattan. Pictured is a scale model.

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Competitive prices -

Featuring six coal-powered generators that relied on several miles of cables laid under the street, Pearl Street Station was able to provide electricity to homes at a similar price as gas.

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Big plans -

By 1883, Edison and his team had more than 500 customers. They had great plans to extend their system throughout Manhattan and New York City.

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Challenges -

However, they were limited by the fact that their system used only direct current (DC). At the time, the voltage of DC could not easily be converted.

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Large losses over distance -

This meant it was difficult to transmit DC at high voltages, which in turn meant that DC electricity would see large losses over longer distances.

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Limited range -

The practical consequence of this was that Pearl Street Station could only power homes within a quarter mile radius of itself.

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Enter: Nikolas Tesla -

As a potential solution to this problem, Serbian-American scientist Nikola Tesla proposed using a different electricity system that was based on alternating current (AC).

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Travels further -

AC is more easily converted between high and low voltages, which means that the power can be transmitted over much further distances.

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"No future to it" -

Edison was quick to dismiss Tesla's proposal for AC, claiming that DC was safer. He even went so far as to say that AC had "no future to it."

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Tesla's response -

Tesla didn't take these criticisms lying down. He quit working for Edison and teamed up with railway entrepreneur George Westinghouse, who also happened to be interested in the potential of AC generators.

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And so it began -

Before long, Edison and Tesla were in a feud that would become known as the "war of the currents," with Edison doing everything in his power to discredit AC.

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Great lengths -

His main argument was that AC was unsafe, and he publicly issued a booklet describing its perils. He even went so far as to execute stray animals, in order to demonstrate its danger.

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The resilience of AC -

Despite Edison's best attempts to discredit it, however, alternating current quickly took off. By 1891, there were almost 1,000 central AC stations across the US.

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Big win -

Tesla and Westinghouse had a huge win in 1893 when they won the bid to provide electricity for the Chicago's World Fair, also known as the World's Columbian Exposition.

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The winning bid -

Edison's team had bid to provide electricity at the fair for US$554,000, but Westinghouse undercut them, saying he could do the same for $339,000.

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Solidifying the win -

Their victory was then solidified later that same year, when the Niagara Falls Power Company chose Westinghouse, along with Tesla's all-important AC patents, to provide power from a new hydro plant being built at Niagara Falls.

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Niagara Falls Power Plant -

This project would ultimately become the world's first ever large-scale hydroelectric plant.

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The electrification of New York -

Suffice it to say, alternating current came out on top in the war of the currents. In the following decades, the electrification of New York with AC was rampant.

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Contemporary electricity -

Still today, much of our electricity is powered by alternating current. That's not to say that direct current doesn't have its place, however.

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Things that run on DC -

Indeed, computers, LEDs, solar cells, and electric vehicles all run on direct current. Moreover, there are now methods available for converting DC between higher and lower voltages.

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HVDC -

Since direct current is more stable, certain companies are working on finding ways of using high voltage direct current (HVDC) to transport electricity over long distances without loss.

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Going forward -

It seems, then, that the war of the currents is not over yet. Perhaps going forward, the two systems will end up working in parallel, or even as a team.

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Transition in the 21st century -

In the meantime, however, the world is more focused on another important transition: the move from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

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Heating and transport -

For although it is true that electricity is the dominant power source for the world's lighting, when it comes to heating and transport, fossil fuels are still the main players.

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Electricity sources -

Furthermore, while some electricity comes from renewable sources, such as hydropower, most of it comes from coal and gas-generating stations.

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Trailblazer -

Just as it did in the 19th century, New York is leading the way when it comes to this transition. In 2019, it passed the Climate Act, which mandates that 70% of electricity should be produced by renewables by 2030.

Sources: (BBC) (U.S. Department of Energy)

See also: The greatest inventions of the 19th century

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