The latest renewable energy statistics for the US are out, and there is lots of good news!

Renewable energy consumption grew by 7 percent between

2007 and 2008, despite a 2 percent decline in total U.S. energy

consumption (Table 1). Total renewable energy consumption

increased by 487 trillion Btu to 7,301 trillion Btu. This is the highest

level attained based on EIA estimates of renewable energy

back to 1949, and is due to substantial increases in the use

of biofuels, wind and solar energy. Renewable energy’s share of

total U.S. energy consumption was over 7 percent in 2008, c

ompared to 6 percent in 2004


Renewable energy is consumed across all 5 energy use sectors.

The two largest consuming sectors are electric power and industrial,

though patterns are changing. In 2008, the electric power sector

accounted for 51 percent of renewable energy consumption and

the industrial sector 28 percent, down from 56 and 30 percent,
respectively, in 2004. This was due in some measure to the substantial change

in the transportation sector, whose share rose from 5 to 11

percent between 2004 and 2008. The gain was due to increased

consumption of biofuels, primarily ethanol derived from corn,

but also to a lesser extent biodiesel. Both are fuels needed to

meet the Federal Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires

an increasing supply of renewable fuels through 2022.


While total U.S. generation declined slightly to 4,110 billion

kilowatthours in 2008, renewable generation increased by

5 percent compared to 2007 to 372 billion kilowatthours.

The biggest increase in renewable generation was the 51

percent, or 18 billion kilowatthours, increase for wind. By

the end of 2008, wind provided 1.3 percent of total U.S.

generation (from all energy sources), up from 0.4 percent

in 2004. This is largely attributed to dramatic expansion

in wind capacity in the
last few years.

Check the entire report here http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/alternate/page/renew_energy_consump/pretrends08.pdf

http://www.thesolarandwindexpo.com/

Make green a reality!