Alternative Energy

According to the the National Hydrogen Association, "English scientists William Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle discovered that applying electric current to water produced hydrogen and oxygen gases. This process was later termed 'electrolysis.'" This lead to the use of hydrogen energy.

According to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, ""William Robert Grove (1811 -1896), a Welsh lawyer turned scientist, won renown for his development of an improved wet-cell battery in 1838. The 'Grove cell,' as it came to be called, used a platinum electrode immersed in nitric acid and a zinc electrode in zinc sulfate to generate about 12 amps of current at about 1.8 volts"

President Abraham Lincoln established the Spirit Tax to help finance the Civil War happening at the time. The tax imposed $2.08 per gallon, including ethanol. This caused the ethanol industry to disappear for 45 years.

Rudolph Diesel's invention of the Diesel Engine allowed the engine to run on vegetable oils. This was showcased at the World's Fair in Paris, believing his invention would help lead in better efficient technology and economy for the world. Over the next 80 years, the diesel engine would become an industry standard for power.

According to Bill Kovarik, "Studies of alcohol as an internal combustion engine fuel began in the U.S. with the Edison Electric Testing Laboratory and Columbia University in 1906. Elihu Thomson reported that despite a smaller heat or B.T.U. [British Thermal Unit] value, 'a gallon of alcohol will develop substantially the same power in an internal combustion engine as a gallon of gasoline. This is owing to the superior efficiency of operation...' Other researchers confirmed the same phenomena around the same time."

President Theodore Roosevelt, who was seeking a competitor to Big Oil, convinced congress to lift the Spirit Tax and also established the Free Alcohol Bill, which enabled alcohol use for industries to be free from internal tax. By the end of WWI, ethanol fuel was being produced at a rate of 50 million gallons per year.

According to the EPA, "Ethanol-fueled vehicles date back to the 1880s when Henry Ford designed a car that ran solely on ethanol. He later built the first flex fuel vehicle: a 1908 Model T designed to operate on either ethanol or gasoline."

This act allowed private companies to create atomic energy for peaceful purposes. This stimulated the development of atomic energy use and ended the government monopoly over it.

According to the US Department of Energy, "On August 4, 1977, President Carter signed the Department of Energy Organization Act, consolidating more than 30 separate energy functions carried out by various government agencies, including ERDA [Energy Research and Development Administration]." This led to the creation of many energy departments that would aid in the development of alternative energies.

The Spark M. Matsunaga Hydrogen Research, Development, and Demonstration Program Act of 1990 was passed. The act would, according to the document, "a comprehensive 5-year comprehensive program management plan that will identify and resolve critical technical issues necessary for the realization of a domestic capability to produce, distribute, and use hydrogen economically within the shortest time practicable; to direct the Secretary to develop a technology assessment and information transfer program among the Federal agencies and aerospace, transportation, energy, and other entities; and to develop renewable energy resources as a primary source of energy for the production of hydrogen."