From Guest Blogger Patrick Kennedy: Sources of Energy
Electricity is a formidable component of daily life. We use it to heat, cool, and power our homes, offices, airports, and industrial endeavors. Electricity is so prevalent that we often forget where it comes from, much less how it is generated. (The author conflates “energy” and “electricity” and, as a consequence, makes many misstatements here, e.g., that transportation represents 3% of our energy use, since we have such a low implementation of electric transportation; transportation is actually about 30% of our total energy consumption. – Ed)
Only when we dig deeper into statistical data do we begin to realize how much electricity is generated, consumed or wasted.
In the United States, 36% of our energy comes from petroleum based products, whereas resources like natural gas, coal, renewable energy, and nuclear electric energy account for a noticeably lower percentage.
The most important question is, where does all this energy go? The infographic below describes what percentage of U.S. energy is consumed where.
The good news is, even though energy consumption increases year after year, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions will continue to remain at manageable levels thanks in part to improved efficiency practices in the residential and transportation sectors.
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