The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports statistics on the increased percentage of U.S. energy usage coming from renewable energy sources. The report includes data and analysis on the impact of ethanol subsidies upon the rising price of corn, as ethanol production increased 25% from 2005 to 2006. Wind energy production was a bigger gainer, though from a much smaller base, at 45% growth from 2005-2006, with Texas being the biggest gainer, followed by Washington and California.
Renewable USEIA: Energy Consumption and Electricity Preliminary 2006 Statistics - Data for 2006, released August 2007
(read more below the fold)
From the EIA's Overview:
"Preliminary data indicates that total renewable energy consumption increased 7 percent between 2005 and 2006 (Table 1). In contrast, total U.S. energy consumption declined 1 percent, mainly due to decreased consumption of fossil fuels (including decreased natural gas consumption in the residential sector and decreased coal and petroleum consumption in the electric power sector)."
"Renewable energy’s market share stood at almost 7 percent in 2006, slightly greater than for 2005 (Table 1 and Figure 1). Total renewable consumption stood at 6.844 quadrillion Btu. Consistent with historical patterns, the electric power sector consumed the majority (56 percent) of renewable energy (Table 2). The industrial sector consumed 28 percent, with the transportation and commercial sectors using the remainder. Hydroelectric conventional power had the largest absolute year-to-year change at 186 trillion Btu, but this represented only a 7 percent increase, while biofuels[2] consumption increased by 164 trillion Btu or 28 percent, and wind increased by 80 trillion Btu or 45 percent."
Posted by dougsimpson at August 22, 2007 11:08 AM