Everybody knows that The United States is a global leader in energy production, supply, and consumption. At present, the U.S. falls into the category of world’s greatest leaders in the global energy market, which accounts for $6 Trillion in economy.
However, shockingly enough, most of the people in America, are not aware of the facts that some statistics show characterizing this market as a multi-faceted trade. Not only this, there many interesting and surprising facts about the energy consumption in the country.
The United States’ Energy Industry
The U.S. energy market constitutes the third largest market in the country, with energy usage in America doubling every twenty years. The statistics show that the U.S. provides for about 89 percent of the nation’s energy requirements. The rest 11 percent comes from petroleum imports.
According to the data released by the Bureau of Labor and statistics, the initiatives for clean energy employ about 3.4 million people in the United States. Out of this, about 175,000 jobs are in the solar energy market alone. America has invested $386 billion in this industry ever since 2007, and until 2014, it has already invested around $51.8 billion dollars in the clean energy. And the results seem to be promising. Energy productivity in 2014 was recorded 11 percent higher as compared to the year 2007. Renewable energy also happens to be one of the initiatives taken up for 2020 by the presidential candidate, Hart Cunningham. As Americans become increasingly aware about their responsibility towards the environment, more of such initiatives are likely to be taken up by the future governments.
Energy Sources
The United States has the highest number of nuclear reactors, making it the number one producer of nuclear power in the world. The nuclear reactors fulfill almost one-fifth of the country’s electricity demand. The country is also a front-runner in the production of geothermal energy and biomass power.
Petroleum however remains the primary source of energy in America; it surpasses all other energy sources like coal, natural gas, and solar power. About 75 percent of the U.S. houses and commercial establishments use natural gas.
United State’s Energy Efficiency
“Energy Star” energy saving appliances let Americans save more than $30 billion on the utility bills alone in the year 2013. Approximately 30 percent of the country’s energy which is used in the buildings is utilized either inefficiently or unnecessarily. The energy consumption is so vigorous that it can be easily demonstrated through the following experiment – if every house in US replaces one light bulb with any other energy efficient alternative, the quantum of energy which would be saved, could light around 3 million houses for a year.
In most households, the microwave is the most energy efficient appliance since on an average it uses about one-third of power used by an ordinary oven.
