How much energy does it take to run a country? And right now how much of that energy is sustainable?
These are pretty critical questions in the long-term functioning of a modern society,
and the answers are getting more positive, slowly.
In the case of the USA, that’s a relatively easy question to answer, as the Energy Information
Administration, a congressional statistics body, pulls the information together on
a regular basis and supplies it to the public in a handy series of documents.
We learn, for example, that the nation’s energy consumption is roughly 100 quadrillion Btu,
or British Thermal Energy Units. One Btu is the quantity of energy required to raise the
temperature of one pound of liquid by one degree Fahrenheit, at the temperature of 39 Fahrenheit.
It goes without saying that’s a startlingly large number, and very difficult to picture,
but it’s the equivalent of burning about 20 billion barrels of petrol,
which, fortunately, is not where all our energy comes from.
Sadly, of those 20 billion barrels of petrol equivalent in energy, a little under eight
billion actually do come from petrol, which makes petroleum America’s largest energy source,
providing around 37% of all the energy consumed at the time of the latest stats, 2019.
After that comes natural gas (at 32%), with both coal and the cumulative total of all types of
renewable energy at about 11% each. Nuclear energy, which is arguably greener than the
other non-renewable types, contributes the remaining 8% of American energy.
At 11%, then, the total amount of energy that America used from renewable sources in 2019
was the equivalent of burning about 2 billion barrels of petrol, which, of course,
is not an insignificant ‘saving’ in fossil fuels, but also a far cry from some other countries.
Iceland, which makes use of its impressive geothermal energy options, produced nearly 80% of
its energy from renewable sources in 2019. Norway was up at 66%, Brazil at 45%, and even our near
neighbours Canada at 27%, all figures that put the current American scenario to shame.
In terms of America’s green energy progress, despite some seemingly anti-environmental
policies, production in America did actually improve during former President
Trump’s administration, with plenty of private and pre-planned state projects coming online, as well
as Trump era projects such as the North Central Wind Station, and Spotsylvania Solar Station.
As for what’s already in place, the breakdown is a little complicated,
and perhaps not what you’d expect. Of all the renewable energy used, 43% is biomass energy.
That means the use of fuels that can easily be regrown, rather than those that are pulled
from the ground after thousands of years. This arguably ‘renewable’ energy includes
the burning of sustainable wood, biofuels (from sources like animal methane or corn ethanol),
and figures for biomass waste, a technique for turning waste into energy by burning.
Some of these energy production methods are worth flagging as less than ideal
from a green perspective. Biomass waste energy production, for example, is more
environmentally friendly than burning oil (after all, its disposing of post-use waste products,
so ‘recycling’ the energy from them to some degree), but not exactly the cleanest form
of energy production in its own right, despite its ‘green’ assignment. Similarly, burning of
‘sustainable’ trees and crops are nevertheless not the cleanest form of energy production.
The truly green energy is that which produces little in the way of byproducts, and that accounts
for the remaining 57% of renewable energy, or just under 6% of the US’ total energy use.
Those sources of energy include wind (the biggest contributor), hydroelectric power
(which is also key), and smaller contributions from solar and geothermal energy sources.
That means that the exact amount of renewable energy that the US used in 2019
probably depends on your definition of what is renewable. It could be as much as the
equivalent of 2.2 billion barrels of oil, but more hardline environmentalists would
probably argue that it’s in fact a little over 1.2 billion barrels of oil-equivalent energy.
Others still might argue that nuclear is a relatively acceptable and ‘environmental’
product, and that would add another 1.6 billion barrel equivalents.
The primary uses of all US energy, incidentally, was spread across a vast range of sectors,
with electric power slightly more significant than transportation, which in turn came in a
little ahead of industrial uses. Residential and commercial energy use came far behind.
The US’ relatively paltry use of renewable energy is on the up, however,
with year on year increases over the past decade, and plenty of plans to improve the situation.
Joe Biden’s administration are putting a stronger focus on renewable energy,
and with plenty of desire for change amongst large parts of the public,
it’s reasonable to expect renewable energy to have a bigger market share in the future.
In fact, the US has fantastic renewable energy potential, with huge capacity to develop in
particular in solar, and to a lesser extent in wind and geothermal energy. A 2012 report
by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory put the total potential energy production each year
through renewable sources at over one hundred times the US’ annual energy use at the time.
Essentially, subject to changes in the way we travel, produce electricity,
and organise our industry, it’s very possible that the US could be entirely
fuelled by renewable energy in the long term, though that’s inevitably a long road,
thought by some experts such as Stanford scientists to be achievable by around 2050.
Joe Biden’s early policy changes have certainly looked that way,
having included the cancelling permits for the Keystone XL Pipeline project,
which intended to deliver oil extracted from the Alberta oil sands in Canada,
and recommitting the US to Paris Climate Change Agreement, which sets energy targets.
Current renewable energy projects under development sit in a range of sectors.
American companies Tesla and Lucid are pushing forward in the electric vehicle market.
There’s 16 billion dollars currently being invested in major wind farms in Texas, Wyoming,
and off the coast of North Carolina, as well as a number of significant smaller projects.
The solar energy industry is growing fast, too, currently employing an estimated 242,000 people,
with Nevada - a prime location for this kind of energy - expected to see investment of around
9 billion dollars in the area in the coming decade. The Pecan Prairie Solar Project,
set to be up and running in Texas in 2022, will supply energy to around 50,000 homes.
So while the US is not at the top of its game globally, there is steady progress,
and a marked shift in the direction of renewable energy that looks set to continue.
All of this is important for reasons that should be compelling even to climate change sceptics.
The key is in the word renewable: eventually, in order to sustain energy consumption,
America will have no choice but to adapt. As Elon Musk once said,
“if it’s not renewable, it’s going to run out at some point.”
So what’s a sensible timeline for the switch over to renewable energy, and which sources
should come at the forefront of the change? Hit subscribe, and tell us in the comments.