In a SUN DAY Campaign review of energy production and consumption data, as provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), it was determined that America was slowly shifting towards renewables. The domestic production and use of renewable energy hit an all-time high between January and June 2021. Energy sources such as biomass, solar and hydropower accounted for a larger percentage of all energy produced in the U.S. in the period under review.
The latest data released by the Energy Information Administration provides figures for energy consumption and production from the start of January through June 30, 2021. The data shows that renewable energy sources accounted for 12.91% of the energy produced across the U.S. and 12.71% of the energy consumed. The data accounts for commercial and domestic power use in all areas, including transportation, heating and lighting.
Related: Wind tech jobs are one of the fastest growing in America
Compared to a similar period in previous years, the energy produced this year is 3.03% higher than last year and 4.23% higher than in 2019. Unfortunately, there was a drop in hydropower produced during the same period due to droughts experienced in the western states of the U.S.
Just this month, the EIA released data predicting a 14% drop in the overall hydropower to be produced in the U.S. this year because of severe droughts. Additionally, there was a small drop in the hydropower produced this year compared to last year.
A similar drop was also experienced in geothermal power production. On the positive side, there have been significant improvements in solar and wind power production. Wind now stands as the leading source of renewable energy, accounting for 27.78% of the total renewable energy. This is closely followed by biomass at 21.28% and hydropower at 19.84%.
Even though the country reported positive growth in renewables, the largest percentage of the overall energy consumed was supplied by a mix of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels accounted for 78.69% of total domestic energy production and 78.83% of the overall energy consumption.
SUN DAY Campaign’s Executive Director Ken Bossong said that the U.S. is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels, a situation that is causing a spike in carbon emissions.
“The continued dominance of U.S. energy production and use by fossil fuels and the corresponding rise in CO2 emissions is alarming,” said Bossong. “Fortunately, renewable energy sources are slowly expanding their share of the energy market… but must accelerate far more rapidly if we are to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.”
Lead image via Pexels
from INHABITAT https://ift.tt/3ilfTjJ
via IFTTT
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario