The United States is in the unusual position of being both the world’s top energy consumer and its top producer. Because it consumes more than it produces, though, it must import energy from Middle Eastern countries, primarily in the form of oil, to maintain its standard of living. The political, economic and environmental problems created by the need to import have developed slowly over time and are pressing issues today. This chronology begins with Benjamin Franklin’s kite flying experiment in 1752 and ends with 2002 and a discussion of the development of new types of vehicles and the fuel systems used to power them, electricity deregulation in California, and the possible hydrogen economy of the future. Other topics covered in the chronology and appendices include the sun’s role in the creation of various types of energy, the burning of wood for energy, the development and invention of the steam engine by James Watt, the use of the hydrocarbons coal and oil, key alternatives to oil, the use of water to produce hydroelectric and other forms of energy, atomic and nuclear energy, and the solutions that have been proposed to make the country self-sufficient.