U.S. leads world in non-hydro green power output

WASHINGTON, DC, US, 2004-07-07 (Refocus Weekly)

The United States was the world leader in the generation of non-hydroelectric green power in 2002.

Total U.S. generation from geothermal, solar, wind, wood and waste power facilities was 89 billion kWh, according to the ‘International Energy Annual 2002' produced by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration. Germany was in second place with 27 billion kWh, Japan with 21 b-kWh, Brazil with 15 b-kWh and Spain with 11 billion kWh.

Combined, these five countries generated 60% of the world’s electricity from those five sources in 2002. Global generation from non-hydro renewables increased by 118 billion kWh between 1992 and 2002, at an average annual rate of 5.8%.

The annual report presents data and trends on production and consumption around the world for petroleum, natural gas, coal and electricity. Between 1992 and 2002, the world's total output of primary energy increased at an average annual rate of 1.5%, with world production increasing from 349 quadrillion Btu in 1992 to 405 quadrillion Btu in 2002.

In 2002, petroleum retained the leading spot in primary energy, accounting for 38%, followed by coal at 24%, dry natural gas at 24% and nuclear in fourth spot at 7%. Hydroelectric was fifth at 6.5% while the combined contribution from geothermal, solar, wind, wood and waste electric ranked sixth for primary energy at 0.8%.

Nuclear power generation increased significantly between 1992 and 2002, rising from 2.0 to 2.6 trillion kWh, an increase of 27%, while hydroelectric increase 19% from 2.2 to 2.6 trillion kWh over the decade. The increase for five non-hydro sources was 75%, from 156 to 274 billion kWh.

In 2002, U.S. production of 2.2 quadrillion Btu of renewables not used for generation ranked seventh as a primary energy source, accounting for 0.5% of world primary energy production. The U.S. data are higher than most other countries because that country includes non-commercial energy production such as green heat applications, off-grid renewables and ethanol blended into gasoline.

Global emissions of CO2 from fossil fuels increased 15% from 1992 to 2002, from 21 billion to 25 billion metric tons. Petroleum was responsible for 42% of the world’s carbon emissions, coal was second at 37% and natural gas emitted the remaining 21%.


Click here for more info...