From Past to Present: 5 Energy Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

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Did you know that the United Kingdom has had a public electricity supply since 1888? Since then, a lot has changed as electricity has become an integral part of our daily lives and we’re now exploring renewable alternatives and innovative technologies to meet our growing energy needs.  

Here are five intriguing energy-related facts that highlight the incredible advancements and lesser-known stories behind energy today.  

1. The first solar panels were installed back in 1884 by inventor, Charles Fritts. 

 Fritts had created the first solar cell, which had an energy conversion rate of 1-2%. The following year, he installed these panels on a rooftop in New York City, a practice that has become common today. Nowadays, the average solar cell converts 15-23% of sunlight into electricity.  

 2. The person who invented the Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) apparatus also invented caller ID. 

Theodore Paraskevakos invented the AMR device and patented it in 1974. It was then launched commercially in 1977 by his company MetreTek. Before this, while working as a communication engineer in 1968, Ted developed the first system to identify a telephone caller to a call recipient, now known as the caller ID.  

3. Two turns of the world's most powerful tidal turbines generate enough electricity to run the average UK home for a day.  

The turbine known as the O2, is the length of a Boeing 747 Jumbo with two turbine rotors sweeping the area of around one and a quarter professional basketball courts. The O2 is anchored in Orkney, Scotland where there is a strong tidal current. The novel design is that the turbines are fitted onto a floating platform rather than a fixed structure on the seabed. It can generate close to 2 megawatts of supply power to over 2,000 UK houses annually.  

4. The oldest working lightbulb has been working for over 140 years.  

An Ediswan light bulb located in Heysham, England, has been working since 1883 and has been passed down through the family generations. The bulb was one of the earliest products of the Ediswan factory, which began production in 1881. Ediswan was a collaboration between the British physicist Sir Joseph Swan and the American Thomas Edison, both of whom are independently credited to have invented the light bulb. 

5. The world's first solar-powered satellite is still in orbit around Earth. 

The Vanguard 1 was the first satellite to use solar cells to power the spacecraft in 1958. Solar cells are now commonly used by many spacecrafts, such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the International Space Station.