Renewable Energy Quick Facts

• Renewable energy sources come from natural sources and can be replenished. 
   
• Examples of renewable sources are: biomass (wood, wood waste, municipal solid waste, landfill gas, ethanol
  and biodiesel), water (hydropower), wind and solar. Except for hydropower, they are all derived from the sun.
  
• More than 150 years ago, wood supplied up to 90 percent of the nation’s energy needs. 
   
• As the use of coal, petroleum and natural gas expanded, the United States became less reliant on wood
  as an energy source. Today, coal, petroleum and natural gas account for 83 percent of the nation’s energy
  consumption. 
   
• In 2009, consumption of renewable sources in the United States totaled 7.7 quadrillion Btu—or about 8
  percent of all energy used nationally.
   
• More than half of renewable energy sources are devoted to producing electricity.
   
• In 2009, renewable sources accounted for about 10 percent of U.S. electricity generation. When renewable
  energy sources are used, the demand for fossil fuels is reduced. 
   
• Unlike fossil fuels, non-biomass renewable sources of energy (hydropower, wind and solar) do not directly
  emit greenhouse gases. 
   
• The production and use of renewable fuels has grown more quickly in recent years as a result of higher
  prices for oil and natural gas, and a number of state and federal government incentives, including the Energy
  Policy Acts of 2002 and 2005.
  

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration