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…)

Less than 1% Geothermal
Less than 1% Solar

IF you believe that our number one priority should be a sound energy policy.. on what should we be concentrating our efforts?  HMMMM?