ĭuring the first half of the 20th century, per capita energy use doubled to 200 million BTU, and nearly doubled again in the second half. Petroleum and natural gas took its place, as car ownership doubled in the two decades after the war, and as the number of pipelines rose dramatically. After 1950, coal production and use began to stagnate. Lighting, heating and transportation could all be fueled by coal. īy the late 1800s, coal had surpassed wood as the major source of energy, as it would often be cheaper for those living in cities. Wood made up the majority of this until near the end of the 1800s, meaning the average American burned 8 tons of wood each year. History įrom its founding until the late 19th century, population and energy use in the United States both increased by about 3% per year, resulting in a relatively constant per capita energy use of 100 million BTU. While coal use has been dropping, it remained larger than either nuclear or renewables. Natural gas overtook coal as the dominant source for electric generation in 2016. The country is the second-largest producer and consumer of electricity, behind China. The United States' portion of the electrical grid in North America had a nameplate capacity of 1,213 GW and produced 3,988 TWh in 2021, using 37% of primary energy to do so. The country had a per capita energy consumption of 295 million BTU (311 GJ), ranking it tenth in the world behind Canada, Norway, and several Arabic nations. The United States was the second-largest energy producer and consumer in 2021 after China. Because BTU is a unit of heat, sources that generate electricity directly are multiplied by a conversion factor to equate them with sources that use a heat engine. Įnergy figures are measured in BTU, with 1 BTU equal to 1.055 kJ and 1 quadrillion BTU (1 quad) equal to 1.055 EJ. Electricity from nuclear power supplied 8% and renewable energy supplied 12%, which includes biomass, wind, hydro, solar and geothermal. Most of the energy in the United States came from fossil fuels in 2021, as 36% of the nation's energy originated from petroleum, 32% from natural gas, and 11% from coal.
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