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An array of solar panels on a family-owned farm in Grafton, Massachusetts provides electricity for nearby homes and small businesses. (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)
When Did Renewable Energy Start
A majority of Americans (77%) say it is more important in the U.S. to develop alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power than to produce more coal, oil and other fossil fuels, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Pew. Which begs the question: how
Five Ways To Jump Start The Renewable Energy Transition Now
The answer, as you might expect, is complicated. The use of solar and wind energy has grown rapidly over the past decade, but these sources accounted for less than 4% of all energy used in the United States in 2018 (the most recent full year for which data is available.) So far that we have data. , some of the largest energy used in the United States comes from coal, oil and natural gas. In 2018, these “fossil fuels” provided about 80% of the country’s energy needs, down from 84% a decade earlier. While the use of coal has decreased in recent years, the use of natural gas has increased rapidly, while the share of oil in the country’s energy table fluctuates between 35% and 40%.
Total energy used in the U.S. — from lighting and heating homes to cooking, power plants, driving cars and cell phones — reached 101.2 quadrillion Btu in 2018, the highest since data collection began in 1949. ., according to the federal government. agency. .in. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
(Abbreviated from the British fuel unit, Btu is often used in the energy industry, not to mention the home appliance business, as a standard measure for measuring and comparing different types of energy. Btu is the amount of energy required to heat 1 lb of water 1 degree later (Fahrenheit at sea level. This is equal to about 1,055 joules in the metric system, or the heat given off by burning a standard wooden kitchen counter.)
The United States consumes the most energy, second only to China in estimates. As public concern about climate change continues to grow and energy policy becomes a central issue in this year’s political campaign, we wanted reliable baseline information about how the United States obtains and uses energy and how those trends have changed recently.
What Are Some Examples Of Renewable Resources?
This report is based primarily on data from the Energy Information Administration, Statistics Division of the US Department of Energy. We also refer to a Pew Research Center survey of Americans’ views on climate and energy policy. The study interviewed 3,627 participants in the Center’s American Trends Panel, an online survey panel recruited from a national random sample of residential addresses, in October 2019. Here are the questions asked in the study, along with the answers. survey method.
About 38% of all Btu went into the electricity industry (utilities and independent electricity producers), which converted electricity and fed it back into the rest of the economy. Transportation accounted for about 28% of total energy consumption, followed by the industrial sector (23%), households (7%) and businesses (less than 5%).
Per capita energy consumption in the United States has been declining since the 21st century, but it increased in 2018. On average, each American used 349.8 million Btu in 2000. By 2017, it had dropped to 300.5 million Btu, an all-time low. . in five decades. However, energy consumption per capita increased to 309.3 million Btu in 2018. (Energy consumption per capita increased in 1979 by 359 million Btu.)
In other words, the American economy has become increasingly energy-efficient since the end of World War II. In 1949, it took 15,175 Btu to produce each dollar of real national income. By 2018, it was 5,450, a decrease of 64%. But there are still many inefficiencies in the system: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory estimated that in 2018, nearly two-thirds of all energy used was wasted (such as heat in cars and furnaces). And only 34.5% of the electricity used by the electricity industry reaches the end users as electricity – the rest is lost in the process of production, transmission and distribution of electricity.
Renewable Energy Overview & Examples
Today, the United States meets almost all of its energy needs through domestic production. Total imports, mainly oil, accounted for less than 4% of total US energy supply in 2018, down from 26% a decade earlier.
The United States pumped nearly 3.7 billion barrels of crude oil in the first 10 months of 2019, more than 2 billion in the same period in 2009, according to the EIA. For all of 2018, crude oil accounted for nearly a quarter of all US energy production. Natural gas, which accounted for about a third of total energy production in 2018, also grew, from 21.7 trillion cubic feet in the first nine months of 2009 to 33.6 trillion cubic feet in the same period in 2019.
This huge increase in domestic oil and gas production is due to new technologies, particularly drilling and horizontal drilling, which allow companies to access underground deposits that were previously too expensive to mine. As a result, the United States was the largest producer of oil and gas in the world in 2018, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia, respectively.
Coal, on the other hand, has fallen rapidly since a peak of nearly 1.2 billion tons in 2008. Almost all of the U.S. coal (about 93% in 2018, according to EIA data) is used to generate electricity. But as the Brookings Institution report points out, US electricity demand has been weak, natural gas prices have fallen while production has risen, and government policy has favored alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar. In 2018, coal accounted for just 16% of total domestic energy production, less than half of its share a decade ago. The amount obtained in the first nine months of 2019, 540 million tons, was almost a third less than the same period in 2009.
Fossil Fuels Still Dominate U.s. Energy, But Renewables Growing Fast
Over the past decade, solar energy has seen the greatest growth of any energy source in the United States. Solar energy produced more than 2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2008. Ten years later, it produced more than 93 billion kilowatt hours, an increase of almost 46 times. The growth of solar energy occurs on a large scale (power plants). and a small scale (solar panels on the roof). In total, about two-thirds of solar energy is generated on the national grid, with most of the rest coming from solar installations on homes and commercial buildings.
However, in 2018, solar energy represented only 1% of the country’s total energy production. Hydropower remains the largest source of renewable energy (2.8% of total generation), followed by wind, wood and biofuels.
About the Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan repository of information that informs the public about the issues, perspectives, and trends that shape the world. He conducts public opinion polls, population research, media content analysis and other empirical research in the social sciences. The Pew Research Center does not take political positions. He is a supporter of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Copyright 2022 Pew Research Center About Terms Privacy Policy Reprint, Permissions and Use Policy Feedback Jobs Jump What is renewable energy? Types of Renewable Energy Sources Home Renewable Energy Sources and a large solar panel in Palm Springs, California Vanja Terzic/iStock Renewable energy is growing rapidly as innovation lowers costs and begins to fulfill the promise of a cleaner environment. the future of energy. America’s solar and wind generation is breaking records and is connected to the national energy grid without compromising reliability. This means that renewable energy sources are increasingly displacing “dirty” fuels in the energy sector, producing less carbon emissions and other forms of environmental pollution. But not all energy sources labeled as “renewable” are good for the environment. Planted dams and large hydroelectric dams present complex changes when considering impacts on wildlife, climate change and other issues. Here’s what you need to know about the different types of renewable energy sources and how you can use these new technologies at home. What is renewable energy? Renewable energy, often referred to as clean energy, comes from natural sources or processes that are constantly replenished. For example, sunlight and wind continue to shine and blow, although their availability depends on time and weather. Renewable energy is often considered a new technology, but using natural energy has long been used for heating, transportation, lighting, and more. The wind enables ships to sail the sea and windmills to grind grain. The sun provided warmth during the day and helped keep the fire burning until evening. But over the past 500 years, people have increasingly turned to cheaper, cleaner energy sources like coal and fracked gas. Now that we have innovative and affordable ways to capture and store wind and solar energy, renewables are becoming increasingly popular.
Five Ways To Jump Start The Renewable Energy Transition
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Renewable
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Author by : Jeremy Shere
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2013-11-26
Publisher by : Macmillan + ORM
ISBN :
Description : Where does the energy we use come from? It's absolutely vital to every single thing we do every day, but for most people, it is utterly invisible. Flick a switch and the lights go on. It might as well be magic. Science writer Jeremy Shere shows us in Renewable: The World-Changing Powerof Alternative Energy that energy is anything but magical. Producing it in fossil fuel form is a dirty, expensive—but also hugely profitable— enterprise, with enormous but largely hidden costs to the entire planet. The cold, hard fact is that at some point we will have wrung the planet dry of easily accessible sources of fossil fuel. And when that time comes, humankind will have no choice but to turn—or, more accurately, return—to other, cleaner, renewable energy sources. What will those sources be? How far have we come to realizing the technologies that will make these sources available? To find the answers, Shere began his journey with a tour of a traditional coal-fueled power plant in his home state of Indiana. He then continued on, traveling from coast to coast as he spoke to scientists, scholars and innovators. He immersed himself in the green energy world: visiting a solar farm at Denver's airport, attending the Wind Power Expo and a wind farm tour in Texas, investigating turbines deep in New York City's East River, and much more. Arranged in five parts—Green Gas, Sun, Wind, Earth, and Water—Renewable tells the stories of the most interesting and promising types of renewable energy: namely, biofuel, solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower. But unlike many books about alternative energy, Renewable is not obsessed with megawatts and tips for building home solar panels. Instead, Shere digs into the rich, surprisingly long histories of these technologies, bringing to life the pioneering scientists, inventors, and visionaries who blazed the way for solar, wind, hydro, and other forms of renewable power, and unearthing the curious involvement of great thinkers like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Nicola Tesla. We are at an important crossroads in the history of renewable technologies. The possibilities are endless and enticing, and it has become increasingly clear that renewable energy is the way of the future. In Renewable, Jeremy Shere's natural curiosity and serious research come together in an entertaining and informative guide to where renewable energy has been, where it is today, and where it's heading....
Wind Energy
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Author by : Vaughn Nelson
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2013-12-12
Publisher by : CRC Press
ISBN :
Description : As the demand for energy increases, and fossil fuels continue to decrease, Wind Energy: Renewable Energy and the Environment, Second Edition considers the viability of wind as an alternative renewable energy source. This book examines the wind industry from its start in the 1970s until now, and introduces all aspects of wind energy. The phenomenal growth of wind power for utilities is covered along with applications such as wind-diesel, village power, telecommunications, and street lighting.. It covers the characteristics of wind, such as shear, power potential, turbulence, wind resource, wind turbine types, and designs and performance. The text discusses the measurement and siting of individual wind turbines, and considers the development and economic impact of wind farms. What’s New in the Second Edition: Expands the section on distributed wind Adds new sections on global warming, community wind, and storage Illustrates the need for a shift to renewable energy through discussions on energy use and the order of magnitude estimates for the lifetime of fossil fuels Discusses the interconnection of wind turbines to utility grids, regulations on installation and operation, and environmental concerns This book provides material on statistics, installation, types, and energy data, as well as new information, applications, and updates on the wind industry. It serves as a resource for practicing professionals in the wind energy industry, and can be used by undergraduate and graduate students in energy engineering/environmental engineering/wind technology....
World Renewable Energy Congress Vi
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Author by : A. A. M. Sayigh
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2000-09-26
Publisher by : Elsevier
ISBN :
Description : The World Renewable Energy Congress is a key event at the start of the 21st century. It is a vital forum for researchers with an interest in helping renewables to reach their full potential. The effects of global warming and pollution are becoming more apparent for all to see - and the development of renewable solutions to these problems is increasingly important globally. If you were unable to attend the conference, the proceedings will provide an invaluable comprehensive summary of the latest topics and papers....
Energy Solutions For All
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Author by : Adam Furgang
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2021-07-15
Publisher by : 'The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc'
ISBN :
Description : Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, human use of fossil fuels for energy has released tremendous amounts of pollutants and carbon dioxide into Earth's atmosphere. This has altered the environment in increasingly negative ways. All around the world, lawmakers, activists, and young innovators are taking steps and seeking energy solutions. This innovative book examines one of the most important topics of our time: clean, responsible, and renewable energy solutions for all. From solar power technology to the dream of nuclear fusion, people are stepping up to explore or put many different energy sources into practical use. Empower your readers to form and make the right decisions....
21st Century U S Energy Sources
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Author by : Michael Ratner Et Al
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2018-12-04
Publisher by : Independently Published
ISBN :
Description : Since the start of the 21st century, the U.S. energy system has seen tremendous changes. Technological advances in energy production have driven changes in energy consumption, and the United States has moved from being a growing net importer of most forms of energy to a declining importer-and possibly a net exporter in the near future. The United States remains the second largest producer and consumer of energy in the world, behind China. The U.S. oil and natural gas industry has gone through a "renaissance" of production. Technological improvements in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have unlocked enormous oil and natural gas resources from unconventional formations, such as shale. Oil has surpassed levels of production not seen since the 1970s. Natural gas has set new production records almost every year since 2000. In conjunction with the rise in oil and natural gas production, U.S. production of natural gas liquids has also increased. The rise in production of these fuel sources has also corresponded with increased consumption and exports of each. The rise in U.S. oil and natural gas production has taken place mostly onshore and on nonfederal lands. Crude oil production from nonfederal land has doubled over the past decade. While production on federal land has increased, it has not grown as fast as oil production on nonfederal land, causing the federal land share of total U.S. crude oil production to fall from its peak of nearly 36% in 2009 to about 24% in 2017. U.S. natural gas production shifted even more dramatically, with total U.S. dry production growing 33% since 2008, while gross withdrawals on federal lands declined by almost 32% over the same time period. The federal land share of total gross withdrawals decreased from 25% in 2008 to 13% in 2017. The electric power industry is transforming. Growth in demand for electricity has essentially been flat for many years, and the amount of new power generation capacity needed has declined each year in many parts of the country. The projections for future demand growth in most regions of the United States are declining. Natural gas edged out coal to become the primary electric generation fuel in 2016 and the growth in wind and solar energy has shown little sign of abating. The electricity infrastructure of the United States is aging. Uncertainty exists about how to modernize the grid and what technologies and fuels will be used to produce electricity in the future. Unresolved questions about transmission and reliability of the grid are arising due to potential cybersecurity threats and continuing interest in renewable energy and other low carbon sources of electricity. Concerns about reliability and electricity prices are complicated by environmental regulations, the intermittent nature of wind and solar power, and the rising availability of natural gas for electric power production. Renewables production and consumption have increased since 2000. As a source of total primary energy, renewable energy increased 80% between 2000 and 2017. Unlike some other energy commodities (e.g., crude oil), renewable energy is available in a variety of distinct forms that use different conversion technologies to produce usable energy products (e.g., electricity, heat, and liquid fuels). Therefore, it is important to distinguish between renewable fuel sources and uses. The United States has the largest coal resources in the world. Coal is used primarily for electricity generation. Although its prices have stayed low, coal has faced increasing competition from natural gas and renewables. U.S. coal consumption peaked in 2007 and has since declined by 39%. Coal currently supplies approximately 30% of electricity generation. Nuclear-generated electricity output has stayed flat during the same time period, and faces significant challenges as a future source of electric power generation....
Our Renewable Future
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Author by : Richard Heinberg
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2016-06-02
Publisher by : Island Press
ISBN :
Description : "Over the next few decades, we will see a profound energy transformation as society shifts from fossil fuels to renewable resources like solar, wind, biomass. But what might a one hundred percent renewable future actually look like, and what obstacles will we face in this transition? Authors explore the practical challenges and opportunities presented by the shift to renewable energy."--Page 4 of cover....
Powering Our Future
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Author by : Alternative Energy Institute
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2005
Publisher by : iUniverse
ISBN :
Description : With nearly all of the world's energy consumption dependent on non-renewable resources, Powering Our Future challenges consumers to support changes that will create sustainable energy in the future. The four biggest energy sources--oil, natural gas, coal, and uranium--currently power our earth. What would happen to our society if we experienced severe shortages of one or more of these resources? Such a glimpse into the future may become reality sooner than we think. Oil production is soon expected to begin a rapid descent, with natural gas in close pursuit. Powering Our Future is an educational tool that opens the door to a future fueled by sustainable, renewable energy. Consumers will learn: - How our world has become dependent on four nonrenewable resources. - How each resource impacts us politically, economically, and environmentally. - How renewable resources such as hydrogen, fuel cells, wind power, solar energy, hydropower, and more are waiting in the wings. - How the transition to renewable resources will take place, offering economically stable and environmentally safe choices. Powering Our Future is a solution-oriented guide that will empower you to make more informed choices as a voter, a contributor to a global economy, and a citizen of the earth....
