| 1803 | The first Arc Lamp | Scientists had been working on an electric lamp for several years. A man named Humphry Davy created a lamp using volts from a battery, which produced light greater than one thousand candles. |
| 1835 | A light bulb | James Bowman Lindsay was the first person to contain an electrical charge inside of a glass bulb. He proudly showed his creation to others, though it was very unreliable at the time. |
| 1841 | Light up the night | Using Humphry Davy's Arc Lamp, Paris set a new record. They became the first city to attempt lighting their streets with electric street lamps. |
| 1856 | The Geissler tube | Heinrich Geissler, a glassblower by trade, created a special tube to use with electricity. It could contain an electric charge, and it would pave the way for neon and other types of lighting. |
| 1879 | Thomas Edison's designs | Thomas Edison devoted his adult life to working with electricity. He patented a lamp in 1879, then a 16-watt light bulb in 1880. |
| 1893 | Nikola Tesla | Mr. Tesla had worked closely with Thomas Edison before branching out on his own. He worked on creating a wireless electrical lamp. |
| 1910 | Neon lighting | Paris continued setting the stage for the newest designs in electrical lighting. They demonstrated the first neon lighting, which was created by Georges Claude, at the Paris Motor Show. |
| 1926 | Fluorescent lighting | A man named Edmund Germer created a lamp for fluorescent lighting. This new type of lighting would grow in popularity. |
| 1939 | The World Fair | At New York's World Fair, companies demonstrated the efficiency of the fluorescent light bulb. With WWII upon them, the world |
| 1981 | Energy saving lighting | The Philips Company created a fluorescent energy saving lamp. It used an integrated conventional ballast, but it was expensive for consumers to purchase. |
| 1991 | Longer lasting bulbs | When Edison patented his 16-watt bulb, it could last for 1500 hours. Philips created a new fluorescent bulb that could last up to 60,000 hours and be produced at a reasonable price. |
| 1995 | The LED light | A man named Shuji Nakamura created a new type of lighting. Using blue and white LED, or light-emitting diodes, he started a revolution of LED lighting. |
| 2000 | LED's pushed forward | The Energy department recognized the need for greater efficiency in electric lighting. They created a device that would package LED's together to generate better lighting. |
| 2008 | The L Prize Competition | The Energy Department decided to hold a contest for companies to create more efficient energy. Philips won the competition in 2011 with their affordable LED bulb. |
| 2012 | Energy savings | As of 2012, more than 49 million LED bulbs were being used across America. This saved around $675 million in energy costs. |
