Americans Used Less Energy in 2011, & More Renewable Energy

October 25th, 2012 by Tim Tyler

A new study released by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) shows that renewable energy use in the U.S was up for 2011, while overall energy use was down. The decrease in energy use was partly due to more higher-efficiency energy technologies in the transportation and residential sectors.

Coal use declined across the United States, while the energy flow chart above shows a shift toward natural gas use.

Wind energy saw the biggest jump in renewable energy from .92 quadrillion BTU’s in 2010 to 1.17 quads in 2011.

According to the LLNL website:

“Wind energy jumped significantly because, as in previous years, many new wind farms came online,” said A.J. Simon, an LLNL energy systems analyst who develops the flow charts using data provided by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration. “This is the result of sustained investment in wind power.”

Another top performer in renewable energy was hydroelectricity, which went from 2.51 quads in 2010 up to 3.17 quads in 2011. Although the researchers note that this is largely because, in 2011, the U.S saw large amounts of precipitation and that allowed the dams to run at full capacity.

Natural gas showed a significant increase from 24.65 quads in 2010 to 26.9 quads in 2011. Which slowed the demand for coal from 2010 to 2011.

“Sustained low natural gas prices have prompted a shift from coal to gas in the electricity generating sector,” Simon said. “Sustained high oil prices have likely driven the decline in oil use over the past 5 years as people choose to drive less and purchase automobiles that get more miles per gallon.”

“With the advent of shale gas, it appears that natural gas prices in the United States may remain lower than their historical averages for many years into the future,” Simon said. “This has prompted many gas users in the industrial and electricity generating sector to switch from coal or oil to natural gas when it is technically possible, but might not have been economical at higher gas prices.”

Overall electricity generation accounted for 39.2 quads, followed by transportation, industrial, commercial, and residential consumption. The biggest declines where felt in the residential, commercial, and transportation sectors, where more energy efficiency and renewable energy was incorporated into the mix.

Source & Image Credit: LLNL

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Tags: are americans using less energy, clean energy us, Electricity, Electricity generation, energy produced in the United States, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, llnl, renewable energy growth, renewable energy growth us, renewable energy US, US Clean Energy, US renewable energy growth, us using less energy

About the Author

Tim Tyler Holds an electronic's engineering degree and is working toward a second degree in IT/web development. Enjoy's renewable energy topic's and has a passion for the environment. Part time writer and web developer, full time husband and father.

Ray

How our world can use 50% less watt-hours and save money:

Double the alternating current’s frequency, then half-wave rectify it at
the last point before the consumer. The consumer will
receive rapidly pulsed, turned on and off electricity. This on and off
pulsing, of their electricity, uses 50% less watt-hours. This means
that the electricity generation power plants can be running 50% less,
which means less pollution. It should also mean a 50% smaller electric
bill.

There are several ways to convert alternating current to
pulsed current, which will use 50% less watt-hours, and will cause much
less pollution.

There are three current types: direct current, alternating current, and pulsed current. Pulsed current uses 50% less watt-hours.

This DOES NOT violate any conservation of energy laws of physics.

It’s like turning a light switch
on and off quickly. If it’s done quickly enough, you won’t see the
light flicker, because of human vision.

Verify the concept experimentally by using a variable frequency drive in
series with a diode. Start the experiments on lights and then use other devices.

If an electric clock is powered at twice its frequency, then it will run
twice as fast. If the power is half-wave rectified, then it will run on
time using half of the watt-hours.
https://twitter.com/MatthewLRose Matthew Rose

High Resolution image:

https://www.llnl.gov/news/newsreleases/2012/Oct/images/25307_LLNLUSEnergy2011.png
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  Thanks!