According to a review by the SUN DAY Campaign of data recently released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), renewable energy sources (i.e., biofuels, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) provided 12.99% of the nation's total energy production in 2022.
The latest issue of EIA's "Monthly Energy Review" report (with data through December 31) reveals that renewable energy sources grew by 8.28% last year compared to 2021 and by 14.24% compared to 2020. Renewable energy production in 2022 was also 18.53% higher than five years ago and 50.03% greater than a decade earlier.
Across all end-use sectors (e.g., electricity, transportation, heating), renewable energy sources also accounted for 13.07% of energy consumption in 2022 - up from 12.43% a year earlier.
Energy output by most renewables increased in 2022 including solar (up 23.11%), wind (up 14.98%), biofuels (up 5.69%), geothermal (up 4.39%), and hydropower (up 4.13%). Only biomass + wood experienced a decline (down by 2.48%).
By comparison, fossil fuels grew by just 4.48% in 2022 while nuclear power fell by 0.86%.
Among renewable energy sources, wind provided the largest share of production - 28.81%, followed by biomass + wood - 19.43%, biofuels - 18.80%, hydropower - 17.36%, solar - 14.00%, and geothermal - 1.60%.
In 2022, wind accounted for 3.74% of total energy production while solar contributed 1.82% - or 5.56% combined. That is roughly three times their share (1.90%) a decade ago.
The production of biofuels has also experienced moderate growth - up 29.60% over the past ten years. Renewable diesel, in particular, has expanded dramatically, increasing nearly 28-fold since 2012 while production of "other biofuels" such as sustainable aviation fuel are 13 times higher than a decade ago. However, they still provide only a relatively small share (about 13%) of total biofuels output.
The combination of all renewables provided more energy than did either coal or nuclear power in 2022with clean energy sources out-producing the latter two by 11.84% and 65.88% respectively. However, energy sourced from natural gas and oil still exceeded that from renewables.
Notwithstanding an increasing share of the nation's energy mix by renewable energy sources, EIA reports that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from energy consumption were 1.11% higher in 2022 than a year earlier and 7.95% higher than in 2020.
"Fossil fuels continue to dominate the nation's energy supply and that is reflected by the growth in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions," noted the SUN DAY Campaign's executive director Ken Bossong. "So, while renewable energy sources continue to expand their share of the nation's energy production and consumption and now top one-eighth of both, even faster growth remains essential."
Sources:
EIA's latest "Monthly Energy Review" report was released on March 28, 2023. It can be found at: https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly
For the data cited in this news release, see:
- Table 1.1 "Primary Energy Overview"
- Table 1.2 "Primary Energy Production by Source"
- Table 10.1 "Renewable Energy Production and Consumption by Source"
- Table 10.4b "Renewable Diesel Fuel Overview"
- Table 11.1 "Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Energy Consumption by Source"
- Table 11.7 "Carbon Dioxide Emission from Biomass Energy Consumption"
The SUN DAY Campaign is a non-profit research and educational organization founded in 1992 to support a rapid transition to 100% reliance on sustainable energy technologies as a cost-effective alternative to nuclear power and fossil fuels and as a solution to climate change. Follow on Twitter: @SunDayCampaign
