Renewables’ share of U.S. energy consumption highest since 1930s

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (www.eia.gov) latest “Today in Energy” brief looks at the growth of renewables as a share of U.S. energy consumption. “Renewable energy accounted for 9.8% of total domestic energy consumption in 2014. This marks the highest renewable energy share since the 1930s, when wood was a much larger contributor to domestic energy supply…Renewable energy use grew an average of 5% per year over 2001-2014 from its most recent low in 2001. The increase over the past 14 years was in part because of growing use of wind, solar, and biofuels.”—-EIA

Note: Sector shares represent the renewable share of primary energy consumed in the sector. The “Today in Energy” brief was posted Thursday on EIA’s website at: http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=21412 SOURCE: U.S. Energy Information Administration