The U.S. Energy Information Agency publishes an annual two-page report which shows what types of energy we use, and how we use it. This one graph explains a great deal about how our economy and our politics works.
Key Take-Aways
| Energy Type | How We Use That Type of Energy | |
| Petroleum 35% of sources | 68% of petroleum is used as motor fuels. Transportation. 26% of petroleum is used in industry, mostly as feedstock for petrochemicals and plastics | |
| Natural Gas 31% of sources | 38% of natural gas is used for electricity generation 33% of natural gas is used in industry for process heat and feedstock for materials like fertilizer 25% of natural gas is used to heat homes and commercial buildings | |
| Renewables 12% of sources | 60% of renewables is used for electricity generation (hydro power) 20% of renewables is used by industry 7% of renewables are used by households 2% of renewables are used by commercial operations | |
| Coal 10% of sources | 90% of coal is used for electricity generation | |
| Nuclear 9% of sources | 100% of nuclear is used for electricity generation |
Analysis
There are a few important things we can readily ascertain from this sources and uses summary. They are:
- Most petroleum gets used for motor transport. If we convert to electric vehicles (EV), 68% of our petroleum use stops. If the rest of the world also converts to EVs, petroleum would get used mostly to make plastic and lubricants. Oil won’t matter anymore.
- If we transition to EVs we’re going to need a lot more electricity. 56% of the energy used for electricity currently comes from fossil fuels.
- Most of our country’s contribution to atmospheric C02 comes from electricity generation and transportation.
- Renewables are the cheapest source of electricity. Renewables include hydro, solar and wind power
- To reduce C02 emissions, we need way more wind and solar renewables, and we need them now
Shocking Waste
There’s one more rather shocking item to learn: 65% of the energy we use for electricity is wasted at the point of generation or during transmission to its destination.
The Official EIA Report
Here’s a link to the official U.S. Energy Information Agency report that I used as source material for this posting.
