The Electric City: Energy and the Growth of the Chicago Area, 1880-1930

The Electric City: Energy and the Growth of the Chicago Area, 1880-1930
ISBN-10
0226670759
ISBN-13
9780226670751
Category
History
Pages
432
Language
English
Published
1991-04-09
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Author
Harold L. Platt

Description

Describes consumers' shifting habits of fuel consumption, tracing how use of wood led to burning coal and coal gas, to the arrival, to the arrival of the arc lamp, and then the coming of electricity. Shows that the city government and utility brokers faced two problems: how to generate a cheap supply of electricity, and how to sell electrical energy to people who were already enjoying gas services. The solutions were found by Samuel Insull, president of Commonwealth Edison Company, who put electrical technology on a sound economic footing.

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