Americans Consume Less Energy, Less Fossil Fuel
(Coal and oil use retreat in 2009 amid push for renewables)
By Karin Rives
Staff Writer
Washington - Efforts to wean Americans off fossil fuels and onto green energy and conservation are beginning to pay off, a new study suggests. Households and businesses across the United States used significantly less coal and oil in 2009 than the year before, the study from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shows.
At the same time, more power generated by wind turbines, solar panels, biomass and other renewable energy sources flowed into the electric grid to offset the drop in use of fossil fuels.
The nation consumed 35.27 quadrillion Btu of oil in 2009, a 5 percent drop from the year before. A Btu, or British thermal unit, is used to measure energy. An average American home uses about 95 million Btu a year.
Consumption of coal declined even more: nearly 12 percent, the biggest drop in at least a decade.
Total U.S. energy use, meanwhile, decreased by 4.6 percent last year. While the economic recession was responsible for most of the decline, the push for more energy-efficient appliances and cars contributed, said A.J. Simon, the energy systems analyst who developed the report .
American consumption of electricity generated by wind power stations soared 35 percent in 2008. Last year was a record year for wind energy investments in the country, with 10,000 megawatts of new capacity installed that year, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), an industry trade group. The new installed capacity can power 2.4 million homes and generate as much power as three large nuclear power plants would, the group reported.
"The increase in renewables is a really good story, especially in the wind arena," Simon said. "It's a result of very good incentives and technological advancements. The investments put in place for wind in previous years came online in 2009. Even better, there are more projects in the pipeline for 2010 and beyond."
AWEA has warned that wind power investments have dropped sharply this year, even if additional projects come online. The build-out is slowing in part because federal tax credits for such projects are expiring at the end of 2010. Congress' inability to pass comprehensive climate legislation this year also created uncertainties for investors, AWEA says.
At the same time, however, other green energy sources are picking up. According to Energy Department projections, renewables will account for 14 percent of total energy use by 2035, up from 8 percent in 2008.
The agency also predicts that energy consumption will decline steadily after 2013, regardless of economic conditions, because of new efficiency standards for vehicles and lighting that take effect that year.
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)
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