Source: Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review 2006, Tables 1.3 and 2.1b-2.1f, and 10.3.On the left side are the basic sources of energy: petroleum, natural gas, coal, renewable energy sources (such as solar power, ethanol, etc.), and nuclear energy. The right side shows, on a very basic level, who gets that energy: transportation, industrial, residential & commercial, and electric power. Now, obviously, industrial and residential & commercial, all get electricity, but the government has split that source of power out separately. Each of the sources and sectors have their own percentage, showing how much each contributes and consumes, respectively.
The lines connecting the two sides also have two sets of numbers each. For example, 100% of nuclear power obviously goes to electric power; however, nuclear power only makes up 21% of all the electrical power in the US. Likewise, transportation derives 96% of all its fuel from petroleum; natural gas and renewable energy sources (e.g., ethanol) only supply 2% each of transportation's fuel needs.
Notes:
* Percentages do not necessarily equal 100% due to rounding.
1 Excludes 0.5 quadrillion Btu of ethanol, which is included in "Renewable Energy.”
2 Excludes supplemental gaseous fuels.
3 Includes 0.1 quadrillion Btu of coal coke net imports.
4 Conventional hydroelectric power, geothermal, solar/PV, wind, and biomass.
5 Includes industrial combined-heat-and-power (CHP) and industrial electricity-only plants.
6 Includes commercial combined-heat-and-power (CHP) and commercial electricity-only plants.
7 Electricity-only and combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plants whose primary business is to sell electricity, or electricity and heat, to the public.
2 comments:
Assalaamu 'alaikum,
I'm a little confused as to why they chose to separate out the electrical power. I wish they had at least listed how that electrical power was used. Were you looking into this because of the climate change talks in Bali? I thought it was very inauspicious that they chose to call the agreement the "road map." Look how well the "road map" for Palestine is working.
Wa 'alaikum salaam.
I'm not sure why they broke out electricity either. Nor am I certain just yet what "transportation" includes. Does that mean they've broken out all personal automobiles driven by the public, or is that included under "residential?" I need to look that up next.
To answer your question regarding how electric power is used, the answer can be found on this page, under the link, U.S. Consumption (Retail Sales). For 2006, the percentages were:
* Residential - 35.41%
* Commercial - 34.05%
* Industrial - 26.50%
* Transportation - 0.19%
* Direct Use - 3.85%
Direct use is, essentially, any electricity made and used by the same entity (e.g., electricity made by a company's generator).
I didn't get into this because of Bali. Actually, I started getting interested in the topic of energy and oil consumption a couple years ago, and I've written several blog posts about oil consumption that have become fairly popular over time (currently, up to about 15% of my daily hits are on oil-related topics). So there's a need for this information, and I'm trying to educate myself on the topic.
As for your last sentence, yeah, no kidding.
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