Editing Electrification (section)

==Benefits of electrification==
Electrification was called "the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th Century" by the [[National Academy of Engineering]],<ref name="Constable1999">{{cite book |title=A Century of Innovation: Twenty Engineering Achievements That Transformed Our Lives |last1=Constable |first1=George |last2=Somerville |first2=Bob |year=2003 |publisher=Joseph Henry Press |location=Washington, DC |isbn=0-309-08908-5 |url=http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=2988 |access-date=2010-09-22 |archive-date=2012-04-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404192421/http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=2988 |url-status=live }}</ref> and it continues in both rich and poor countries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Agutu |first1=Churchill |last2=Egli |first2=Florian |last3=Williams |first3=Nathaniel J. |last4=Schmidt |first4=Tobias S. |last5=Steffen |first5=Bjarne |date=2022-06-09 |title=Accounting for finance in electrification models for sub-Saharan Africa |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-022-01041-6 |journal=Nature Energy |volume=7 |issue=7 |language=en |pages=631–641 |doi=10.1038/s41560-022-01041-6 |bibcode=2022NatEn...7..631A |s2cid=249563183 |issn=2058-7546|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Hakimian |first=Rob |date=2022-06-10 |title=Procurement launched for largest rail electrification project in the world |url=https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/procurement-launched-for-largest-rail-electrification-project-in-the-world-10-06-2022/ |access-date=2022-06-10 |magazine=New Civil Engineer |language=en}}</ref>

===Benefits of electric lighting===
Electric lighting is highly desirable. The light is much brighter than oil or gas lamps, and there is no soot. Although early electricity was very expensive compared to today, it was far cheaper and more convenient than oil or gas lighting. Electric lighting was so much safer than oil or gas that some companies were able to pay for the electricity with the insurance savings.{{sfn|Nye|1990|p={{page needed|date=October 2020}}}}

===Pre-electric power===
{{Main|Line shaft}}In 1851, [[Charles Babbage]] stated:<blockquote>One of the inventions most important to a class of highly skilled workers (engineers) would be a small motive power - ranging perhaps from the force of from half a man to that of two horses, which might commence as well as cease its action at a moment's notice, require no expense of time for its management and be of modest cost both in original cost and in daily expense.<ref>{{cite book 
|title= Technology Science and History
|last= Cardwell
|first= D. S. L.
|year=1972 |publisher= Heinemann |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/technologyscienc0000card/page/163 163] |url=https://archive.org/details/technologyscienc0000card|url-access= registration
}}</ref>
</blockquote>
[[File:Batteuse 1881.jpg|upright=1.15|right|thumb|Threshing machine in 1881.]]
To be efficient steam engines needed to be several hundred horsepower.  Steam engines and boilers also required operators and maintenance.  For these reasons the smallest commercial steam engines were about 2 horsepower. This was above the need for many small shops.  Also, a small steam engine and boiler cost about $7,000 while an old blind horse that could develop 1/2 horsepower cost $20 or less.<ref>Unskilled labor made approximately $1.25 per 10- to 12-hour day. Hunter and Bryant cite a letter from [[Benjamin Henry Latrobe|Benjamin Latrobe]] to [[John Stevens (inventor, born 1749)|John Stevens]] ca. 1814 giving the cost of two old blind horses used to power a mill at $20 and $14.  A good dray horse cost $165.</ref>  Machinery to use horses for power cost $300 or less.{{sfn|Hunter|Bryant|1991|pp=29–30}}

Many power requirements were less than that of a horse.  Shop machines, such as woodworking lathes, were often powered with a one- or two-man crank.  Household sewing machines were powered with a foot treadle; however, factory sewing machines were steam-powered from a [[line shaft]].  Dogs were sometimes used on machines such as a treadmill, which could be adapted to churn butter.{{sfn|Hunter|Bryant|1991|p={{page needed|date=October 2020}}}}

In the late 19th century specially designed ''power buildings'' leased space to small shops.  These building supplied power to the tenants from a steam engine through line shafts.{{sfn|Hunter|Bryant|1991|p={{page needed|date=October 2020}}}}

Electric motors were several times more efficient than small steam engines because central station generation was more efficient than small steam engines and because line shafts and belts had high friction losses.<ref name=Devine83/>{{sfn|Hunter|Bryant|1991|p={{page needed|date=October 2020}}}}

Electric motors were more efficient than human or animal power.  The conversion efficiency for animal feed to work is between 4 and 5% compared to over 30% for electricity generated using coal.<ref name="Ayers-Warr 2002"/><ref name="fraw.org.uk"/>

===Economic impact of electrification===
{{Main|Mass production#history}}

Electrification and economic growth are highly correlated.<ref name="Electricity_in_Economic Growth"/> In economics, the efficiency of electrical generation has been shown to correlate with ''technological progress''.<ref name="Ayers-Warr 2002">{{Cite journal| last1=Ayres| last2=Ayres| last3=Warr| first1=R. U.| first2=L. W.| first3=B.| title=Exergy, Power and Work in the U. S. Economy 1900-1998| year=2003| journal=Energy| volume=28| issue=3| pages=219–273| doi=10.1016/S0360-5442(02)00089-0| bibcode=2003Ene....28..219A}}</ref><ref name="Electricity_in_Economic Growth">{{cite book
 |title        = Electricity in Economic Growth
 |last1        = Committee on Electricity in Economic Growth Energy Engineering Board Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems National Research Council
 |year         = 1986
 |publisher    = National Academy Press
 |location     = Washington, DC
 |isbn         = 0-309-03677-1
 |pages        = 16, 40
 |url          = http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=900
 |access-date  = 2013-10-07
 |archive-date = 2014-06-07
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20140607001154/http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=900
 |url-status   = live
}} <Available as free .pdf download></ref>

In the U.S. from 1870 to 1880 each man-hour was provided with .55&nbsp;hp.  In 1950 each man-hour was provided with 5&nbsp;hp, or a 2.8% annual increase, declining to 1.5% from 1930 to 1950.<ref>{{cite book|title=Productivity in the United States: Trends and Cycles |last=Kendrick |first= John W.|year= 1980 |publisher = The Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn= 978-0-8018-2289-6 |page=97}}</ref>  The period of electrification of factories and households from 1900 to 1940, was one of high [[productivity]] and economic growth.

Most studies of electrification and electric grids focused on industrial core countries in Europe and the United States. Elsewhere, wired electricity was often carried on and through the circuits of colonial rule. Some historians and sociologists considered the interplay of colonial politics and the development of electric grids: in India, Rao<ref>Rao, Y. Srinivasa (2010) “Electricity, Politics and Regional Economic Imbalance in Madras
Presidency, 1900–1947.” Economic and Political Weekly 45(23), 59–66</ref> showed that linguistics-based regional politics—not techno-geographical considerations—led to the creation of two separate grids; in colonial Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), Chikowero<ref>Chikowero, Moses (2007) “Subalternating Currents: Electrification and Power Politics
in Bulawayo, Colonial Zimbabwe, 1894–1939.” Journal of Southern African Studies
33(2), 287–306</ref> showed that electrification was racially based and served the white settler community while excluding Africans; and in Mandate Palestine, Shamir<ref>Shamir, Ronen (2013) Current Flow: The Electrification of Palestine. Stanford: Stanford University Press</ref>{{page needed|date=November 2017}} claimed that  British electric concessions to a Zionist-owned company deepened the economic disparities between Arabs and Jews.