Renewable Energy Trends in Consumption and Electricity 2007 Edition
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The report, Renewable Energy Trends in Consumption and Electricity, 2007, provides an overview and tables with historical data spanning as far back as 1989 through 2007 on renewable energy consumption and electricity. Consumption[back to top] Total renewable energy consumption decreased by a modest 96 trillion British Thermal Units (Btu) or 1 percent between 2006 and 2007 to a total of 6,813 trillion Btu (Table 1.1). Gains in biofuels and wind energy consumption were offset by losses in hydroelectric power. Over the same period total U.S. energy consumption increased by 1,702 trillion Btu or 2 percent. Increases in natural gas consumption for the residential and electric power sectors led the U.S. trend in non-renewable energy. As a result, renewable energy consumption hovered at 7 percent of the U.S. total (Figure 1.1). Figure 1.1 The Role of Renewable Energy Consumption in the Nation's Energy Supply, 2007
Source: Energy Information Administration, Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels Chart data. Biomass energy consumption stood at 3,596 trillion Btu or 53 percent of the renewable energy market in 2007 (Table 1.2). Hydroelectric consumption was 2.446 trillion Btu or 36 percent of the market. Due to low water levels, that was the lowest level hydroelectric has been since 2001 which was also a low water year (Table 1.5b). Some of the fastest annual rates of growth in consumption were for wind (29 percent) and ethanol (26 percent). By 2007 biofuels consumption (biomass for the transportation sector, primarily ethanol and biodiesel, and related losses and coproducts in the industrial sector) totaled more than 1,000 trillion Btu for the year (Figure 1.2). Wind consumption was 341 trillion Btu in 2007, all of it in the electric power sector. Figure 1.2 Biofuels Consumption, 2003-2007
Source: Energy Information Administration, Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels Chart data. For 2007 the share of total renewable energy used for electricity production was just 54 percent or 3,699 trillion Btu. Ninety-four percent of renewable energy consumed for electricity generation in 2007 was by electric utilities and independent power producers in the electric power sector; just 6 percent was in the industrial sector.[1] Renewable energy consumed for nonelectric uses increased by 240 trillion Btu to 3,114 trillion Btu, or almost 46 percent of total renewable energy consumption (Tables 1.2 and 1.4). Nonelectric uses include applications such as wood for space heating, noncentral station solar, process heat from biomass for manufacturers, geothermal heat pumps and direct use of geothermal. While a small portion of the 240 trillion Btu increase between 2006 and 2007 was increased consumption of wood for heating in the residential sector, most of the increase was for biofuels consumption in the transportation sector and the related biofuel feedstocks in the industrial sector. Ethanol consumption increased 26 percent from 462 to 580 trillion Btu in 2007, or 6,886 million gallons, an amount that easily exceeded the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) established by the Energy Policy Act (EPACT) 2005 (Table 1.6). The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) passed in December 2007 raised the RFS. But unfavorable market conditions in the recession of 2008-2009 may limit the industry’s response. By early 2009 fully 9 percent of all ethanol plants in the U.S. had filed for bankruptcy.[2] EISA 2007 also set a standard of 500 million gallons for biodiesel consumption in 2009. How close the U.S. is to meeting this standard is uncertain. In this report, because there is no official trade data for biodiesel, consumption is assumed to equal production. However, there are indications that exports were substantial. If trade is accounted for, then the estimates of domestic biodiesel consumption could be considerably lower. Biomass waste consumption stood at 430 trillion Btu for 2007, up from 414 trillion Btu in 2006 (Tables 1.2 and 1.7). More than half was consumed by independent power producers. Landfill gas and MSW biogenic provided the largest shares (40 and 38 percent respectively). Industrial biomass consumption was only slightly higher at 2,012 trillion Btu in 2007 than in 2006 (Tables 1.2 and 1.8). Biomass consumption by the paper and allied products industries accounted for 59 percent of this, followed by biorefineries with 19 percent. Sixty-two power plants with total generating capacity of 8,121 megawatts (MW) reported having 5,080 MW of capacity capable of cofiring biomass and coal (Table 1.9).
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| Consumption | EXCEL | HTML | |||
| 1.1 | U.S. Energy Consumption by Energy Source, 2003-2007 | |
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| 1.2 | Renewable Energy Consumption by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source, 2003-2007 | |
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| 1.3 | Renewable Energy Consumption for Electricity Generation by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source, 2003-2007 | |
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| 1.4 | Renewable Energy Consumption for Nonelectric Use by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source, 2003-2007 |
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| 1.5a | Historical Renewable Energy Consumption by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source, 1989-1999 | |
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| 1.5b | Historical Renewable Energy Consumption by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source, 2000-2007 | |
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| 1.6 | Biofuels Overview, 2003-2007 | |
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| 1.7 | Waste Energy Consumption by Type of Waste and Energy Use Sector, 2007 | |
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| 1.8 | Industrial Biomass Energy Consumption and Electricity Net Generation by Industry and Energy Sources, 2007 | |
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| 1.9 | Net Summer Capacity of Plants Cofiring Biomass and Coal, 2007 | |
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| 1.10 | Average Heat Content of Selected Biomass Fuels | |
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| Electricity | EXCEL | HTML | |||
| 1.11 | Electricity Net Generation From Renewable Energy by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source, 2003-2007 | |
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| 1.12 | U.S. Electric Net Summer Capacity, 2003-2007 | |
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| 1.13 | Renewable Electricity Net Generation by Energy Source and Census Division, 2007 | |
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| 1.14 | Industrial Biomass Electricity Net Generation by Census Division and Energy Source, 2007 | |
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| State Electricity | EXCEL | HTML | |||
| 1.15 | Renewable Electric Power Sector Net Generation by Energy Source and State, 2006 | |
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| 1.16 | Renewable Commercial and Industrial Sector Net Generation by Energy Source and State, 2006 | |
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| 1.17 | Total Renewable Net Generation by Energy Source and State, 2006 | |
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| 1.18 | Renewable Electric Power Sector Net Generation by Energy Source and State, 2007 | |
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| 1.19 | Renewable Commercial and Industrial Sector Net Generation by Energy Source and State, 2007 | |
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| 1.20 | Total Renewable Net Generation by Energy Source and State, 2007 | |
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| 1.21 | Renewable Electric Power Sector Net Summer Capacity by Energy Source and State, 2006 | |
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| 1.22 | Renewable Commercial and Industrial Sector Net Summer Capacity by Energy Source and State, 2006 | |
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| 1.23 | Total Renewable Net Summer Capacity by Energy Source and State, 2006 | |
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| 1.24 | Renewable Electric Power Sector Net Summer Capacity by Energy Source and State, 2007 | |
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| 1.25 | Renewable Commercial and Industrial Sector Net Summer Capacity by Energy Source and State, 2007 | |
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| 1.26 | Total Renewable Net Summer Capacity by Energy Source and State, 2007 | |
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| 1.27 | Renewable Market Share of Net Generation by State, 2006 and 2007 | |
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| 1.28 | Renewable Portfolio Standards and State Mandates by State, 2007 | |
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| 1.A1 | Other Non-Renewable Energy Consumption by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source, 2002- 2006 | |
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| 1.A2 | Other Non-Renewable Net Electricity Generation by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source, 2002- 2006 | |
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| Figures | HTML | ||
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| 1.1 | Renewable Energy Consumption in the Nation’s Energy Supply, 2007 | |
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| 1.2 | Biofuels Consumption, 2003-2007 | |
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| 1.3 | Wind Net Electricity Generation, 2003-2007 | |
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Electricity[back to top]
Renewable energy provided about 353 billion kilowatthours of electricity in 2007, down 9 percent from the year before, mainly due to a decrease in hydroelectric power generation partially offset by an increase in wind (Table 1.11 and Figure 1.3). In contrast, total U.S. generation increased over 2 percent year to year to 4,157 billion kilowatthours. Most of that increase was provided by natural gas.[3] As a result renewable’s share of total U.S. generation stood at 8.5 percent in 2007, down from 9.5 percent in 2006, while the nonhydro renewable share of generation moved from 2.4 to 2.5 percent (Table 1.27).
Figure 1.3 Wind Electricity Net Generation 2003-2007
Source: Energy Information Administration, Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels Chart data.
Total U.S. electric net summer capacity grew by a net 8,673 megawatts (MW) between 2006 and 2007 (Table 1.12). The main drivers of this change were increases of 5,186 MW for wind and 4,582 MW for natural gas, which were partially offset by a decrease of 2,029 MW for petroleum.[4] There was also an increase of 341 MW for landfill gas capacity, but a large share of it was as a result of improving EIA’s coverage in its power plant survey database for 2007. In addition, there was a 332 MW increase in capacity primarily using wood and derived fuels. Central station solar thermal/PV capacity increased 91 MW or 22 percent. A major share of this increase was the 64 MW Nevada Solar One plant in Boulder City.
Table 1.13 shows that hydroelectric conventional generation was concentrated in the Pacific Contiguous Division, where it accounted for 82 percent of the renewable electricity provided to that market. Geothermal and solar/PV generation was found mainly in the Pacific Contiguous and Mountain Divisions, while electricity from the remaining renewable sources tended to be scattered across the nation. Table 1.14 shows that generation from biomass including black liquor and wood/wood waste solids was concentrated largely in the three southern Census Divisions.
State Electricity[back to top]
Hydroelectric generation decreased by some 42 billion kilowatthours from 2006 to 2007. Though losses were spread across the nation, California alone accounted for almost half of this decrease (21 billion kilowatthours) (Tables 1.17 and 1.20). By contrast, wind power experienced an 8 billion kilowatthour increase as more and more wind plants became fully deployed and integrated into daily grid operations. Texas and Washington contributed the most to this trend with increases of over 2 billion and 1 billion killowatthours, respectively.
In 2007, Texas strengthened its position as the nation’s leader in installed wind capacity. By the end of the year, Texas wind capacity increased by 1,752 MW to 4,490 MW (Tables 1.23 and 1.26). But Texas was hardly alone; 17 other states expanded wind capacity and three of those ( Maine, Massachusetts, and Missouri) added wind capacity for the first time. While built on a smaller scale, solar power had some interesting developments too, notably outside of California. Of the 91 MW increase nationally Nevada accounted for 79 MW. That included the new Nevada Solar One 64 MW solar thermal power plant and the Nellis Air Force 14 MW photovoltaic plant. Colorado also added the SunE Alomosa 8 MW photovoltaic project.
Whether this kind of growth will continue is debatable. Preliminary data for 2008 indicates that wind capacity did continue its rapid expansion through the year. In fact, the U.S may have reached first place for wind capacity worldwide, surpassing Germany. However by early 2009, industry sources reported that “new projects and new orders for turbines and components slowed to a trickle as the financial crisis hit the wind sector,” so the future is uncertain.[5]
One of the ways states support renewable energy development is with renewable portfolio standards (RPS) or state mandates. In 2008 three states (Ohio, South Dakota, and Utah) adopted this type of provision for the first time and three others (Illinois, Michigan, and Missouri) changed from voluntary to required standards. By the end of 2008 there were 35 states spread across the country with an RPS or state mandate (Table 1.28).
Federal Legislation[back to top]
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was signed into law in February 2009 to stimulate the American economy. Among the provisions supporting renewable energy were:
- Extension of the wind energy production tax credit (PTC) to 2012 and the PTC for municipal solid waste, qualified hydropower, biomass and geothermal energy to 2013. The wind PTC had been set to expire by the end of 2009.
- Two-year extension of the PTC for marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy systems through 2013.
- Alternatively, the Act allows owners of non-solar renewable energy facilities to make an irrevocable election to earn a 30 percent investment credit rather than the PTC. The option remains in effect for the current period of the PTC (described above).
Data Revisions[back to top]
For the EIA’s Electric Power Annual 2007 and this report, EIA adopted a new method of allocating fuel consumption between electric power generation and useful thermal output (UTO) for combined heat and power (CHP) plants. The new method proportionately distributes a CHP plant’s losses between the two output products (electric power and UTO), assuming the same efficiency for production of electricity as UTO.[6] The change is reflected from 2004 onwards. For 2006 using the old methodology the percent of renewable energy used for generating electricity was 61 percent; using the new methodology it is less – 58 percent – as expected (Tables 1.2 and 1.3).[7]
In addition, information on residential wood energy consumption became available from EIA’s quadrennial Residential Energy Consumption Survey for 2005, so residential wood estimates for 2005-2007 in this report reflect benchmarking to this updated information. That resulted in a lowering of the estimate of residential wood consumption by 60 trillion Btu for 2005 and 80 trillion Btu for 2006. There was also a small adjustment to industrial landfill gas consumption in 2006 as a result of updated information from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program.
[1] See the data revisions section at the end of this chapter for an explanation of changes in methodology to estimate energy consumption for electricity and energy consumption for useful thermal output at combined heat and power (CHP) plants. This change was implemented starting with 2004 data and continues.
[2] Energy Tribune, “Ethanol Bankruptcies Continue, 14 Studies Have Exposed the High Cost of Ethanol and Biofuels,” February 4, 2009. See: http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=1281.
[3] Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual 2007 (Washington, DC, January 2009), table 1.1. See: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epa_sum.html.
[4] Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual 2007 (Washington, DC, January 2009), table 2.1. See: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epa_sum.html.
[5] See Global Wind Energy Council, Press Release, “U.S. and China in race to top of global wind industry” (February 2, 2009), here: http://www.gwec.net/ and PV News, “2009 PV Market Opens with Signs of Trouble” (February 2009).
[6] In historical data, UTO was consistently assumed to be 80 percent efficient and all other losses at the plant were allocated to production of electric power.
[7]For 2006 see Energy Information Administration, Renewable Energy Trends in Consumption and Electricity 2006 (Washington, DC, July 2008), Table 1.2 and table 1.3. See: http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelrenewable.html .
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