Welcome to Part II of our history of the electric power industry. For Part I, see here. By 1930, the US was using 114 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, generated by more than 4000 power plants. Most electricity was generated by coal (56%) and hydroelectric (34%) plants, with the remainder generated by natural gas and fuel oil.[0] 68% of homes overall, and 84% of homes in urban areas, had electrical service. Electricity had, in the
“By 1930, the US was using 114 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year“
Is this right? The stats I found say we currently use only 4 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity via the modern grid (the 4 would be closer to 10 before efficiency losses and like 30 if you include non-grid energy, but still less than 100).
Maybe it should be 114 trillion watt hours per year in 1930?
More excellent info - thanks again. The stats on growth - both the grid and its components and the parallel economic results of its newly widespread availability in the WWII era - are particularly interesting. We currently take the availability so much for granted that its profound effect on society goes unrecognized.
I would be fascinated by an analysis of economies of scale for today's power generation tech. If the grid didn't already exist, how big would the most efficient plant be? Or plant + storage to deal with demand load variance? What if you applied an arbitrary carbon tax?
What a fantastic post. And now we have to wonder about all the regulation that came along with those 3 huge events/eras: the oil crisis (embargo) of the 1970s, the environmental movement of the 60s/70s and perhaps the reduction in manufacturing which peaked in 1979? https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-9/forty-years-of-falling-manufacturing-employment.htm
Really loving this series Brian. As a mechanical engineering grad only getting started in the power generation industry, been great learning the history of it all.
Quick question: do you have suggestions of blogs or newsletters to track ongoing developments in the economics, technology, and deployment of grids specifically?
“By 1930, the US was using 114 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year“
Is this right? The stats I found say we currently use only 4 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity via the modern grid (the 4 would be closer to 10 before efficiency losses and like 30 if you include non-grid energy, but still less than 100).
Maybe it should be 114 trillion watt hours per year in 1930?
More excellent info - thanks again. The stats on growth - both the grid and its components and the parallel economic results of its newly widespread availability in the WWII era - are particularly interesting. We currently take the availability so much for granted that its profound effect on society goes unrecognized.
I would be fascinated by an analysis of economies of scale for today's power generation tech. If the grid didn't already exist, how big would the most efficient plant be? Or plant + storage to deal with demand load variance? What if you applied an arbitrary carbon tax?
Just read all three of these essays. Excellent!
What a fantastic post. And now we have to wonder about all the regulation that came along with those 3 huge events/eras: the oil crisis (embargo) of the 1970s, the environmental movement of the 60s/70s and perhaps the reduction in manufacturing which peaked in 1979? https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-9/forty-years-of-falling-manufacturing-employment.htm
No mention of PURPA? This led to non-utility generation flowing into the grid, with major impact on utility planning.
Somewhat related: here's a [deep dive](https://tildes.net/~enviro/15sb/japan_to_invest_107_billion_in_hydrogen_supply_over_fifteen_years) on how the Japanese electric grid is rather different from the US grid, and how that connects to their promotion of hydrogen.
Really loving this series Brian. As a mechanical engineering grad only getting started in the power generation industry, been great learning the history of it all.
Quick question: do you have suggestions of blogs or newsletters to track ongoing developments in the economics, technology, and deployment of grids specifically?
Can you point me to the 1942 Leland Olds document? All I can find is a quote in the Congressional Record in 1941: https://books.google.com/books?id=cdSNRDZ-OewC&pg=SL1-PA5031&lpg=SL1-PA5031&dq=%22one+seventh+of+all+the+electricity+used+in+the+country+for+all+purposes+in+1940%22&source=bl&ots=0CG-y3tXh6&sig=ACfU3U1L_Mzp7wx0Jc0-8nrE7kpxVyeXOQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiRuriI36n_AhWuPkQIHemBBZ8Q6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=%22one%20seventh%20of%20all%20the%20electricity%20used%20in%20the%20country%20for%20all%20purposes%20in%201940%22&f=false
Many thanks!
Some day, would you do a post on the Global Energy Interconnection, GEIDCO?
It sounds insanely cool and apparently there's already $15 trillion into it.