RENEWABLE ENERGY MID-YEAR REPORT

10% OF U.S. ENERGY CONSUMPTION
12% OF DOMESTIC PRODUCTION
14% OF NET ELECTRICAL GENERATION

Washington DC– According to the most recent issue of the “Monthly Energy Review” by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), with data through June 30, 2013, renewable energy sources (i.e., biofuels, biomass, hydropower, geothermal, solar, and wind) provided 9.81% of U.S. energy consumption and 11.82% of domestic energy production for the first half of 2013.

EIA’s earlier-issued “Electric Power Monthly” revealed that renewables had provided 14.20% of net electrical generation during the first six months of the year.

Compared to the same time frame in 2012, overall renewable energy production, including conventional hydropower, was 2.00% higher while production from non-hydro renewables grew by 4.13%. Specifically, solar grew by 32.46% in 2013, wind by 20.14%, geothermal by 0.89%, and biomass by 0.42%. Hydropower slipped by 2.59% and biofuels by 5.92%.

Among the renewable energy sources, hydropower’s share during the first half of 2013 was 30.18%, biomass 25.26%, biofuels 20.18%, wind 18.80%, solar 3.19%, and geothermal 2.39%.

Production from all renewable energy sources, including conventional hydropower, is about 60% higher in 2013 than it was in 2003 while production from non-hydro renewable energy sources has more than doubled.

Over the past decade, domestic energy production from wind has increased by a factor of nearly 16 while output from both biofuels and solar is now about five times higher than in 2003. Geothermal has also grown – by about 30% – while biomass and hydropower have remained largely unchanged.

By comparison, during the past ten years, domestic energy production from fossil fuels has increased by about 11% and from nuclear power by only 1%.

“Renewable sources, particularly solar, wind, and biofuels, have been the real growth industries in the energy market over the past decade,” said Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign. “If recent trends continue, they will eventually eclipse both fossil fuels and nuclear power.”

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration released its most recent “Monthly Energy Review” on September 25, 2013. It can be found at: http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/index.cfm. The relevant charts from
which the data above are extrapolated are Tables 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 10.1. EIA released its most “Electric Power Monthly” on September 20, 2013 with data through July 31, 2013; see: http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly. However, the mid-year
(i.e., June 30, 2013) net electrical generation data is taken from the previous issue released on August 22, 2013. The relevant charts are Tables 1.1, 1.1.A, ES1.A,
and ES1.B.

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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.