SEP 26

That's right, ten percent of the energy produced in America is now renewable! It's certainly good news, but not actually as good as it might seem. We're only talking about American energy here...so while that counts almost all of the coal, it doesn't include a pretty huge chunk of the oil.

But it does point out that renewable energy is already a substantial portion of American's energy production picture. The biggest piece of that 10% is now biomass and biofuels, followed by hydroelectric (a chunk of the renewable energy pie that has not and will not grow any further.) Wind is a different story however. While it's still a tiny piece of domestic production (still less than a percent) it's growing faster than any other energy source, 50% up over last year in the first half of this year alone.

Solar and geothermal finish up the renewable source list with a truly tiny piece of the pie...but both offer even more opportunity for growth than wind power.

Renewables are simply best way to get energy domestically, and now with 10% of our energy (and rising) coming from these sources, the sun is looking that much brighter.

Full Press Release from the SUN DAY Campaign Below

RENEWABLE ENERGY TOPS 10 PERCENT

OF DOMESTIC U.S. ENERGY PRODUCTION

DURING FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2008

For Immediate Release:  September 26, 2008

Contact:  Ken Bossong

Washington DC -- According to the latest "Monthly Energy Review" issued by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (September 24, 2008), renewable energy accounted for more than 10 percent of the domestically-produced energy used in the United States in the first half of 2008.

For the period January 1 - June 30, 2008, the United States consumed 50.673 quadrillion Btus (quads) of energy - of which 34.162 quads was from domestic sources and 16.511 quads was imported.

Domestically-produced renewable energy (biomass/biofuels, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) totaled 3.606 quads -- an amount equal to 10.56% of U.S. energy consumption that is domestically-produced.

This share is only slightly less than the contribution from nuclear power (11.98%).  And while consumption of nuclear power dropped by one percent during the first half of 2008, compared to the same period for 2007 (4.091 quads, down from 4.119 quads), renewable energy's share increased by five percent (3.606 quads, up from 3.439 quads).

Biomass and biofuels combined presently constitute the largest source of renewable energy in the United States (1.883 quads) followed by hydropower (1.387 quads). Wind power, however, experienced the largest growth rate -- increasing by almost 49% from the first half of 2007 compared to the first half of 2008 (0.244 quads, up from 0.164 quads).  Solar’s and geothermal’s contributions were at roughly the same levels in 2008 as they were in 2007 – although both are poised to greatly expand their market share in the near future.

“The significant contribution being made by renewable energy sources to the nation’s energy supply documented by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is far greater than most Americans realize,” said Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign.  “Repeated statements by nuclear and fossil fuel interests that renewables contribute only a tiny fraction of the nation’s energy supply are not only misleading but flatly wrong.”

A summary table prepared by the SUN DAY Campaign based on the data in the EIA report is attached.

# # # # # # # #

The SUN DAY Campaign is a non-profit research and educational organization founded in 1993 to promote sustainable energy technologies as cost-effective alternatives to nuclear power and fossil fuels.

Comments (14)

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Making plastic and fuel out of food
written by Tim Dunn, September 26, 2008

My company sells oxo-biodegradable disposable plastic items. I am really worried about the strong movement to make plastic out of food under the guise that it is sustainable and compostable. There are 54,000,000 tons of plastic bags and wrappers made every year. If we made that out of food, it would equal 7% of the wheat corn grown every year. That is a lot of food, with over 850 million hungry people in the world who don't get enough to eat right now.
Making fuel out of food just adds to the problem.
We propose an alternative-read about it at our website at:

http://biogreenproducts.biz/whyoxo.html

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...
written by Clinch, September 27, 2008

I surprised that renewable solar is as low as it is, but I expect it to dramatically increase when many of the recent new developments are put in to practice (ones that increase the efficiency, and lower the cost).

I'm also surprised that the amount of energy from hydropower won't increase, seeing as more energy could be gotten from more efficient turbines.
And also new projects and developments in coastal hydropower (although, that may be classed as something different [i.e. tide/wave power] even though it's still hydro).

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Biomass
written by bbm, September 27, 2008

I don't know how legit it is to currently call biomass renewable, as most of this is corn ethanol which is technically "renewable" I guess but certainly is not sustainable in the amount of energy inputs it requires in the form of fertilizers, processing, transport, and distillation. I've read the energy return there is 1.1 to 1.3 times the energy invested... at best. Oftentimes, it is worse than that.

Since the major inputs are natural gas (fertilizers and distillation) it's kind of cheating to call corn ethanol renewable.

It would likely be better to just use the natural gas directly to power cars instead of turning it into ethanol.

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...
written by Annie Bankss, September 28, 2008

Yes, Fuel out of food is just not the right solution. We'll have to see to other means.

Annie

Save Our Planet

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10% is Great News but...
written by Steve N. Lee, September 29, 2008

I have to agree with the other readers, we really must find alternative fuels that don't draw on food resources. (Unless we fully intend to lay waste to all our parks, forests, and wilderness areas to exclusive grow corn, of course!)

Hydropower can't increase because there are already too many damns in the world that are crucifying the environment by disrupting natural water flow of the planet.

I, too, am surprised and disappointed to see that solar gets such a power showing in these results. I'd have expected it to have a fair few percentage points by now.

Wind power? Again, I'd have expected more. I was in California over the summer and was astounded and delighted at the number of hillsides that were positively overflowing with wind turbines. I've never seen so many before in my life. That was very heartening.

All that said, 10% is something to shout about. I'm sure that only a few years ago that would've been thought of as an impossible level to reach. It shows there is a degree of commitment upon which we can build, and that technology is advancing to a point where alternative sources can make a valuable contribution to energy production.

Now all we have to is ensure we build on this result and further develop that technology to produce truly green energy.

Steve N. Lee
author of eco-blog http://www.lionsledbysheep.com
and suspense thriller 'What if...?'

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10% is a great start
written by xebra, September 29, 2008

I do agree with the other commentators that utilizing food for energy is not the solution. The solution lies is developing and harnessing other renewable and sustainable sources of energy the way countries like Iceland are able to (geothermal), or the way solar and wind and even wave are being developed elsewhere.

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Solar will be the ticket
written by bbm, September 29, 2008

In a few years. The market forces impelling it along are so large that there's really not much else we can do but wait for manufacturing capability to catch up.

Geothermal may be interesting, too, but we already lead the world (even over Iceland) in that category. Further advances will require better technologies.

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written by gfd, January 31, 2009

i do agree with the other commentators that utilizing food for energy is not the solution. The solution lies is developing and harnessing other renewable and sustainable sources of energy the way countries like Iceland are able to (geothermal), or the way solar and wind and even wave are being developed elsewhere.

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fdgdf
written by ghfd, January 31, 2009

The solution lies is developing and harnessing other renewable and sustainable sources of energy the way countries like Iceland are able to (geothermal), or the way solar and wind and even wave are being developed elsewhere.

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written by queue management system, November 17, 2009

The solution lies is developing and harnessing other renewable and sustainable sources of energy the way countries like Iceland are able to (geothermal), or the way solar and wind and even wave are being developed elsewhere.

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