Few New York State farms had electric power in the 1920s. Even as late as 1930 ninety percent of farm families nationwide had no line-run electricity. On long winter evenings city dwellers could read and sew long past sunset, but farm families sat in near darkness and did chores, such as milking the cows, in the dim light of kerosene lanterns.
Some farmers used Delco-Light Plants made up of ranks of glass-jarred lead-storage batteries located in dirt-floored basements for electric power. As Delco’s slogan was, “Delco systems sell best by night,” Delco salesman cleverly arrived at dusk with small Delco systems to demonstrate to farmers how these DC-units, when sufficiently massed, could bring to the farm what folks in the cities enjoyed. But Delco systems were expensive, and the batteries had to be recharged with a generator powered by a gasoline engine. [Read more…] about The Night the Lights Came On: Electricity on New York State Farms
The latest episode of Empire State Engagements features a conversation with Dr. Daniel Macfarlane about his book 
Burning fuel, like wood and gasoline, happens around the world every day. Most of the time, we burn fuels to make heat or power engines. Sometimes the burning happens by accident, as in the case of wildfires.
Bold action is needed in Congress if the Adirondack Park is to benefit from several federal funding and policy initiatives that could combat acid rain, climate change and water pollution, while making much-needed investments in communities including broadband communications and new infrastructure to cope with more frequent storms and flooding, the Adirondack Council said in a statement to the press this week. 
Governor Kathy Hochul announced Thursday that she has allocated $59 million for the new Clean Green Schools initiative, which aims to advance clean energy and energy efficiency solutions hoped to improve indoor air quality and reduce emissions for more than 500 public and private Pre-K-12 schools in