by Shane Henson — August 28, 2013—The United States used more electricity from solar and wind energy sources in 2012 than in the previous year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) annual analysis. Each year, the laboratory releases energy flow charts that track the nation’s consumption of energy resources. The 2012 energy flow chart details the sources of energy production, how Americans are using energy, and how much waste exists.
According to the LLNL, the rise in renewables is tied to both prices—the underlying cost of solar panels and wind turbines has gone down—and policies, such as government incentives or renewable energy targets in various states. The LLNL, which tracks the nation’s consumption of energy resources, reported that wind power saw the biggest gains, reaching a total of 1.36 quadrillion BTU (quads) produced in 2012 compared to 1.17 quads in 2011. New wind farms continue to come on line with bigger, more efficient wind turbines to generate electricity. Solar energy jumped from 0.158 quads in 2011 to 0.235 quads in 2012, spurred by declines in prices of photovoltaic panels, the report said.
The 2012 energy flow chart details the sources of energy production, how Americans are using energy, and how much waste exists.
(Click on image to enlarge)
The LLNL also says that overall, the United States used an estimated 95.1 quads in 2012, which was 2.2 quads less than the previous year. The most energy was used for electricity generation, followed by energy used in the transportation, industrial, and residential sectors. Last year, energy use in the residential, commercial, and transportation sectors decreased while industrial energy use increased slightly.
While the use of renewable energy is up, the same cannot be said for nuclear energy, coal and oil. This is the first year in at least a decade where there has been a measurable decrease in nuclear energy, the LLNL says, and the use of both coal and oil dropped in 2012. However, the use of natural gas jumped to 26 quads from 24.9 quads the previous year, and the LLNL notes that there is a direct correlation between the drop in coal electricity generation and the jump in production from natural gas.
