History

At Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the USA, a research team has presented a process that converts polyethylene plastic waste into fuel at temperatures below 200 degrees Celsius. The study, published in the “Journal of the American Chemical Society,” utilizes a molten salt solution containing aluminum chloride as the reaction environment. The starting point is […]

A small rodent, likely a mouse, has brought an entire wind farm in Hilchenbach to a standstill. The Rothaarwind 1 wind farm, consisting of five turbines, has been shut down in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district since mid-January because a short circuit damaged a substation. The grid operator cites a small rodent as the culprit and suspects

Anyone who has ever plugged in an electrical device abroad is familiar with the problem: the voltage in household power grids varies worldwide. In Germany, it’s 230 volts, while in the USA it’s 120 volts. Household electricity simply doesn’t have the same voltage or frequency everywhere. Historically developed structures, early technical standards, and regional peculiarities

At the heart of every modern technology lies a fascinating story. The vacuum tube marked the beginning of a technological revolution that linked electronics, microchips, computer technology, and innovation. From its inception, it transformed the world of communication and laid the foundation for all subsequent developments. This invention demonstrated that electric current could not only

As already described in our article “The economic miracle brings nuclear power plants“, the expansion of nuclear power plants boomed in the 1970s. After the two oil crises, nuclear power plants were supposed to guarantee more independence from foreign energy sources. Therefore, in 1974, eleven nuclear power plants were in operation in the Federal Republic

With the nuclear power plants, a monopoly of a few large electricity suppliers soon formed. The local energy suppliers were responsible for the entire process, from the generation of electricity, the distribution via their own distribution network to the billing of consumption with their customers. In this process, they had the local monopoly from power

In the years before the Second World War, the networks grow together rapidly. Industry largely switches from being driven by steam engines to electric motors. The electricity required for this is produced in coal-fired and hydroelectric power plants. In private households, the electrical supply is limited almost exclusively to lighting and, during the war, to

As we have already written in our article “The beginnings of the electrification of Germany“, electric current was initially only needed for lighting. Each of these lighting installations had its own generator, which was driven either by a steam engine or a stationary gas engine. In 1888, Nikola Tesla patented the first electric motor for

In the 1880s, the electrification of the first cities and households begins. With the marketing of the incandescent lamp by Thomas Edison and the first of his company in the USA, the electrification of cities spreads rapidly. As early as 1882, Edison put his first power plant into operation in New York. It supplied its

In our article “Who invented electricity?” we reported on the history from the discovery to the practical use of electricity. With this article, we want to briefly look at when the electrification of Germany began. Electric lighting makes its way into the cities As already reported in the first article, Werner von Siemens practically invented