Ars Technica is reporting that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has released a fascinating new chart which shows the detailed mix of energy production and consumption in the US for the year 2009.
The release of the analysis comes complete with the above excessively complicated chart that shows where all the energy came from and went to during 2009. It’s a bit difficult to parse, but shows that the US remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels, which account for nearly 80 quadrillion of the 95 quadrillion BTUs (Quads) that the US consumed last year. But the chart doesn’t show the trends, which may be more significant.
According to the Livermore analysts, both economics and higher-efficiency appliances and vehicles helped push down the energy use last year, dropping consumption from 2008′s 99 Quads. Coal and petroleum use both declined significantly (coal was down by 10 percent), with more efficient vehicles accounting for much of the latter. Lowered electricity use accounted for much of coal’s drop, as did displacement by natural gas. But total natural gas use also dropped, at least in part because solar, hydro, and geothermal power all increased slightly, and wind power increased significantly. It’s now at 0.7 Quads, and on pace to clear a full Quad within the next couple of years.
Download the Estimated US energy use mix 2009 PDF.
