logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2021
42m 30s

The Electrical Grid (2020)

NPR
About this episode
Today, electricity in the U.S. is a utility we notice only when it's suddenly unavailable. But over a hundred years ago, electricity in the homes of every American was a wild idea and the subject of a bitter fight over who would power, and profit from, the national grid. This week, the battle that electrified our world and the extreme measures that were taken to get there.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Jul 10
What Makes Us Free?
What's the role of government in society? What do we mean when we talk about individual responsibility? What makes us free? 'Neoliberalism' might feel like a squishy term that's hard to define and understand. But this ideology, founded by a group of men in the Swiss Alps, is a po ... Show More
49m 9s
Jul 3
Does America Need a Hero?
Captain America: an all-American superhero. Clad in red, white, and blue, he carries only a shield. And he fights only when he must. When it's right.But what happens when what's right isn't so clear? And how does a comic book hero designed to represent America's values survive in ... Show More
51m 5s
Jun 29
Iran and the U.S., Part Three: Soleimani's Iran
The Iran-Iraq war, 9/11, and the story of Iranian Revolutionary Guard general Qassem Soleimani, from his rise to power, to his assassination, by the U.S., to the power his legacy wields now.This episode originally ran as Soleimani's Iran. You can find more of Throughline's covera ... Show More
45m 33s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2023
Living with power cuts
Around the world, millions of people live with daily electricity blackouts. In recent days in South Africa, protesters – angry that the electricity keeps going off – marched through Johannesburg and Cape Town. Three women in South Africa share their experiences of their daily str ... Show More
23m 56s
Aug 2021
Can we run the world on electricity?
The target for many countries around the world is to reach net zero emissions within the next few decades. That means a dramatic move away from fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas. For some the answer to the problem is to boost “green” electricity production, so that we can run o ... Show More
23m 36s
Aug 2021
The Electric Grid-Lock
So many players in the U.S. electrical game, but maybe less is more? A look into energy grids, how monopolies could topple, blackouts stop, and the climate impact of it all. On today's show, who controls the power? 
9m 6s
Oct 2021
Electrify Everything
To survive the climate crisis, we need to electrify everything: our cars, of course, but also our appliances, homes, mass transit, entire neighborhoods and cities. Everything.  That’s no small task. So to better understand why electrifying everything matters, and how we’re going ... Show More
27m 56s
Feb 2024
TechStuff Classic: History of Electricity Part Two
As the 20th century loomed ever closer, the battle waged to determine how we would transmit electricity. Learn about the current wars and why AC ultimately won.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
1h 8m
Mar 2022
Electrify everything – a blueprint for decarbonising Australia
By electrifying virtually everything, we can solve the climate change crisis. Electric vehicles, electric heating, electric cooking, a decarbonised grid – all powered by renewables and batteries. This is the future Australia should be pursuing, argues inventor and entrepreneur, S ... Show More
54m 5s
Oct 2019
Electric Chair | War of the Currents | S21-E1
On August 6, 1890, a prisoner named William Kemmler became the first man executed in the electric chair. It was designed to be a more humane form of execution, but the gruesome scene in the death chamber that day revealed the device to be anything but. Still, the chair stuck arou ... Show More
44m 52s
Mar 2022
498. In the 1890s, the Best-Selling Car Was … Electric
After a huge false start, electric cars are finally about to flourish. We speak with a technology historian about this all-too-common story, and what it means for innovation everywhere. 
43m 17s
Oct 2010
Solar-powered lamp and charger
The very last episode in Neil MacGregor's history of humanity as told through the things that time has left behind. The director of the British Museum in London has spent the past year choosing objects from the museum's vast collection to represent a two million year story of hum ... Show More
13m 34s