U.S. Production & Consumption of Renewable Energy Set New Records in 2017

Renewable energy sources (i.e., biofuels, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) set new U.S. records for both production and consumption in 2017, according to a SUN DAY Campaign analysis of data just released  by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

EIA's latest "Monthly Energy Review" (with summary statistics for the full 2017 calendar year) reveals that output by renewables increased last year by 7.83% to 11.138 quads (quadrillion Btu) compared to 2016 (10.329 quads) and by 15.41% compared to 2015 (9.651 quads).  As a share of total domestic production from all energy sources, renewables accounted for 12.73% in 2017, compared to 12.24% in 2016 and 10.94% in 2015.

Total domestic energy production from all sources increased in 2017 by 3.63% to 87.458 quads. However, the strong growth by renewables actually reduced the shares of both nuclear power and fossil fuels: nuclear dropped from 9.99% in 2016 to 9.63% in 2017 while fossil fuels declined from 77.77% to 77.64%.

On the consumption side, renewable sources accounted for 11.26% of all U.S. energy use in 2017 -- up from 10.52% in 2016 and 9.88% in 2015. Actual consumption in 2017 (11.017 quads) was 7.37% greater than in 2016 (10.261 quads) and 14.34% more than in 2015 (9.635 quads).

Among the renewable energy sources, hydropower comprised the largest share of production in 2017 (24.87%), followed closely by biomass (24.26%), wind (21.07%), and biofuels (20.94%), with solar (6.96%), and geothermal (1.89%) providing the balance.

Energy Information Administration | www.eia.gov