Where Does America’s Energy Come From?
by KEN BRAUN
If you listen to politicians and much of the media talk of
America’s energy future, you may be getting a false idea about just how
relevant certain politically popular energy experimental forms of energy
are to keeping the lights on, factories running and cars moving.
First, consider how much energy Americans use for
everything: transportation, heating, electricity, industry … all of it.
In 2011, the Department of Energy says that was 97.5 quadrillion Btu
(British thermal units.)
Here’s where it all of our energy came from in 2011:
36% – Petroleum
25% – Natural Gas
20% – Coal
8% – Nuclear
3.15% – Hydro-electric dams
1.98% – Wood
1.89% – Biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel, etc…)
1.17% – Wind
0.45% – Biomass Waste
0.18% – Geothermal
0.09% – Solar
The most frequently championed and subsidized alternative
energy sources in the political arena – wind and solar – still comprise
just a tiny portion of our total energy use: Just a few ticks over one
percent in 2011. This is despite many years of subsidies and
development. Burning wood as a fuel dates back to mankind discovering
fire, and it still remains nearly twice as common a fuel source as wind
and solar combined.
The most frequent use for wind and solar is in the
generation of our electricity. But here as well, these experimental
sources still comprise a small amount of the total.
Here is where Americans got their electricity from in 2011:
42% – Coal
25% – Natural Gas
19% – Nuclear
8% – Hydro-electric dams
3% – Wind
1% – “Biomass” (burning wood, paper and food scraps, etc…)
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The first electricity-producing windmill is believed to have been built in 1887. More than 100 years later, it is producing about 3 percent of our electricity.
The first experimental nuclear power plant
was built in 1951. Just six years later, a large-scale commercial
nuclear plant was delivering power to customers in Pennsylvania. By
1973, about 5 percent of our electricity came from nuclear power. This
jumped to 9 percent two years later, and hit the current total of about
20 percent by 1988.
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