Probably the most revolutionary aspect of the industrial revolution was:

The exploitation of new forms of energy

The answer is the exploitation of new forms of energy. Before the First Industrial Revolution, wood and coal were used lone for heating. With the creation of steam engine in 1769 and of internal burning engine in 1875, energy was used for power generation. Subsequent to the founding of the electromagnetic induction by Faraday in the year 1831, energy was also used for electric power, leading in the age of energy use for electrification.