The History of the Lightbulb from US Dept. of Energy

If you are like me, you probably haven’t thought too much about the light bulbs in your home. At some point, you probably learned about Thomas Edison, and if you’re from Metro Detroit, you may have even visited his Menlo Park Complex at Greenfield Village. However, for most of us, how we got from Thomas Edison to the lighting in our homes today is a big mystery.

Many people may be surprised to learn that the lightbulb’s history began many years before Thomas Edison, as the first Arc Lamp was invented in 1803. To learn more about this and more about the history of the lightbulb, check out The U.S. Department of Energy’s article and slideshow about it, “The History of the Light Bulb.”

Though we have come a long way from the early stages of lighting our homes, we are continuing to progress and learn about more and more efficient ways to do so. Light bulbs today may be much more energy-efficient than they were 200 years ago, but that doesn’t mean we should forget to take extra measures, such as turning them off when leaving a room, using timers on outdoor lights, or installing motion sensors instead of switches. To learn more about lighting efficiency, or if you are interested in learning about improvements such as motion sensors, contact FLAME!