Analyze the United States’s history of energy as it relates to modern day sources.

Analysis should include

• the first known coal deposits in the United States
• use of the steam engine
• the discovery of oil in the United States
• oil and gasoline usage in transportation
• the history of lighting
• the Current War (AC vs. DC) and the widespread use of electricity
• investor-owned utilities and public power entities (e.g., municipal utilities, electric cooperatives).

Process/Skill Questions:

• What versatile source of energy was used for construction in colonial days and was also used as a weapon in times of emergency?
• At what time did coal replace wood to power locomotive engines?
• What powered lamps before the widespread use of electricity?
• What United States bureau was created in response to the underground explosion at the Monongah Mine in West Virginia?