Thomas Edison, Off-Grid and Solar
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06. 3.07
One does not think of Thomas Edison as a "green pioneer" but oil was expensive at the turn of the century, and he worried that it might be running out. According to Heather Rogers in the New York Times, Edison was also eager to sell his light bulbs and phonographs to people far away from the electrical grid, and developed alkaline batteries for electric cars.
"In 1912 Edison unveiled an energy-self-sufficient home in West Orange, N.J. Billed as an experimental “Twentieth Century Suburban Residence” and designed to showcase his batteries, it bulged with luxuries like air heating and cooling units, a clothes-washing machine, an electric cooking range and, of course, plenty of light bulbs. Completely off the grid, the house received its juice from a generator that charged a bank of 27 cells in the basement. For this first attempt, Edison used a gas-run motor, but evidence suggests that he hoped to hook up to a wind turbine. The system would allow the prospective homeowner to be, according to The New York Times, “utterly and for all time independent of the nearness or farness of the big electric companies.”
In 1931 he told Henry Ford: “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.” ::New York Times
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Edison was always ahead of his time. It's possible that some of these ideas were part of his anti-AC power campaign. He wanted more de-centralized DC generator grids, and thought AC was a hazard. This would be a natural offshoot of that. He was proven wrong about AC, because of exacting safety standards, but he may not have been wrong about decentralization.
Edwin Black's _Internal Combustion_ tells the story of the Edison/Ford alliance to produce autonomous electric homes and vehicles before WWI. He implies that they were sabotaged by the cartel that fought Ford for years over the patent for gasoline engines. My notes on the book are at http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/2/7/13350/83647
Edison lost the AC/DC battle because of line transmission losses, not because of safety. Far more people die by AC current than DC current in a year, I dare say. Henry Ford's wife drove an electric car as well. Remember, there was not a gasoline distribution system in place at the turn of the century. Electricity could be generated in far more locations, hence Edison's interest in localized production.