Start here
A History of Energy Storage
A plain-language overview of how people have stored energy, from firewood and coal to springs, water reservoirs, batteries, fuel cells and modern grid storage.
Energy and Water
Energy Storage and Fuels
Fuels, batteries and engines that stored and moved energy.
Charcoal, Coal and Coke as Fuels
How charcoal, coal and coke were made and used for heating and smelting, and why the switch from wood-based fuel to coke mattered for ironmaking.
Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Power
The history of the fuel cell, from William Grove's 1839 gas battery to Bacon's alkaline cell, spacecraft power and the modern hydrogen debate.
Lead-Acid Batteries and Starting Engines
How Gaston Planté's 1859 rechargeable cell and later improvements led to the lead-acid battery, and how it came to start car engines.
Nuclear Fission Power Plants
A plain history of the nuclear reactor, from the discovery of fission and Chicago Pile-1 to the first power stations of the 1950s and later accidents.
Steam Engines Before Watt
How Savery's pump and Newcomen's atmospheric engine drained British mines in the early 1700s, and why James Watt's later improvements were needed.
The Voltaic Pile and the Early Batteries
How Alessandro Volta's 1800 pile of metal discs grew out of his dispute with Luigi Galvani, and how early batteries changed chemistry and communication.
Related topics
More in energy and water
Solar Power Solar cells, panels and the many ways sunlight became a power source. Wind Power Turbines, blades and wind farms, from old windmills to modern electricity. Clean Water Water treatment, desalination and recycling as history. Chemistry Discoveries Chemical ideas and processes that shaped industry and daily life.