EIA: U.S. could be net energy exporter within 5 years
April 16, 2015 | By
Jaclyn Brandt
The United States could soon be going through a major energy shift, reversing a course that started in the 1950s. According to the Environmental Information Administration's (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2015, U.S. net energy imports will likely be balanced completely sometime between 2020 and 2030.
According to EIA, this includes changes in supply and demand, as many energy sources -- like natural gas and oil -- transition to domestic production. The increase in renewables will also have a dramatic effect on the imports. "The United States is currently an exporter of petroleum products and coal, but an importer of natural gas and crude oil," EIA said in their report. "When the energy content of these fuels is combined, the United States in 2014 imported 23.3 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) of energy and exported 12.2 quadrillion Btu." Those projections show that, based on energy content, the imports and exports of the United States could balance out in as soon as four years. According to EIA, the numbers are based on many assumptions about things like oil prices, energy resources, and economic growth. Depending on different demand assumptions, EIA expects the imports and exports to balance out sometime between 2019 and 2040. When testing for economic assumptions, the United States can become a net energy exporter between 2022 and 2040. Natural gas is the dominant energy export from the United States, and crude oil and liquid fuels as the main imports. Natural gas is an important piece of the puzzle, and EIA said in every scenario, the United States will transition from importer to exporter of natural gas by 2017. The expanded production of domestic fuel is only a piece of the equation, as demand falls for fossil fuels. As renewables are adopted, the need for imports will decrease. In the different scenarios predicted by EIA, adoption of renewables grows from anywhere between 72 percent between 2013 and 2040 to more than 100 percent between 2013 and 2040. Wind and solar will make up the majority of renewable generation in all cases. Through the different assumptions that EIA tested, the United States will soon become a net importer of energy in the United States -- but it's not clear exactly when it will happen. For more: © 2015 FierceMarkets, a division of Questex Media Group LLC. All rights reserved. http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/eia-us-could-be-net-energy-exporter-within-5-years/2015-04-16 |