Electricity made lighting, heating, and mechanization available to ordinary homes and small businesses.
This should be limited to mechanization, not lighting or heating. In big cities in industrialized countries, there was coal-gas or natural-gas lighting for a few decades before there was electric lighting. And ordinary homes and small businesses have had heating (with wood or coal) for as long as there have been homes and small businesses.
Gas lamps displaced oil lamps, which had been the premier lighting tech for millennia when oil could be had: whether from olives, whales, or other sources. And coal heating was earlier than gas by centuries, displacing wood heat which humans have used since prehistory.
“Town gas” (coal gas) was used for lighting, heating, and cooking. It was a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide: highly poisonous, and as a result used for both suicide and homicide.
Some early household uses of electricity beyond lighting included the electric sewing machine, which displaced treadle-powered sewing machines; grooming tools such as electric razors, hair trimmers, and curling irons; electric fans; and toasters.
This should be limited to mechanization, not lighting or heating. In big cities in industrialized countries, there was coal-gas or natural-gas lighting for a few decades before there was electric lighting. And ordinary homes and small businesses have had heating (with wood or coal) for as long as there have been homes and small businesses.
Gas lamps displaced oil lamps, which had been the premier lighting tech for millennia when oil could be had: whether from olives, whales, or other sources. And coal heating was earlier than gas by centuries, displacing wood heat which humans have used since prehistory.
“Town gas” (coal gas) was used for lighting, heating, and cooking. It was a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide: highly poisonous, and as a result used for both suicide and homicide.
Some early household uses of electricity beyond lighting included the electric sewing machine, which displaced treadle-powered sewing machines; grooming tools such as electric razors, hair trimmers, and curling irons; electric fans; and toasters.