Renewable Energy Facts | Facts about Renewable Energy

Random fact about renewable resources

In 1998, only 7.5 percent of our nation's energy came from renewable resources, even though the amount of renewable energy available was more than 250 times U.S. energy consumption.

Random fact about renewable energy

If your family could use only renewable energy for all your energy needs, you could help reduce the amount of emissions in the air each year by 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, 70 pounds of sulfur dioxide and 50 pounds of nitrogen oxide.

Renewable energy fact about water

Water is currently the most commonly used renewable energy resource, providing enough power to meet the needs of 28.3 million consumers.

Biomass usage in the u.s.

Biomass currently supplies about four percent of the energy produced in the U.S., and could potentially provide almost 20 percent.

Potential renewable energy resources

Energy crops, like switchgrass or fast-growing trees, could provide more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity annually by the year 2010, supporting more than 170,000 jobs and diversifying local farming operations.

Projected U.S. wind energy usage

The U.S. Department of Energy expects wind power to supply at least five percent of the nation's electricity by 2020.

Wind power costs drop

Technological innovations have brought the cost of wind power down from more than 30 cents per kilowatt-hour during the 1980s to less than six cents per kilowatt-hour today.

How much energy can the sun provide?

According to the American Solar Energy Society, enough sunlight falls on the earth's surface each minute to meet world energy demand for an entire year.

Geothermal energy in the u.s.

Geothermal energy currently provides more than 2,700 megawatts of electricity nationwide - the equivalent of three nuclear power plants, or enough to power more than 3.5 million homes.
A geothermal power plant emits no nitrogen oxides, very few sulfur dioxides and 1,000 to 2,000 times less carbon dioxide than a fossil fuel plant.