Renewable energy jobs statistics - United States

The U.S. government funding of $2 billion dollars should be enough to ensure more than 1500 permanent jobs in US solar power industry.

In U.S., solar power installer has an average salary between $40,000-50,000 per year, while solar power engineer double this amount.

It has been calculated than in the last decade the number of jobs in U.S. solar power industry has increased by more than 20 percent.

The average wind energy technician salary in United States is between $30,000-40,000 per year.

At the end of 2009, there were around 95,000 people employed in US solar power industry.

In February 2009, the U.S. Congress passed an $800 billion stimulus package which should in years to come create around two million jobs in renewable energy industry, mostly in solar power industry.

According to some recent studies renewable energy jobs, together with energy efficiency jobs should create more than 4 million employments by the year 2030.

The 2008 study by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) predicts 37 million jobs and $4.29 billion in annual revenue by 2030 from renewable energy and energy efficiency in U.S.

It has been estimated that around 95% of all renewable energy jobs are in private industry.

Renewable energy sectors that account for the majority of green jobs in United States include solar, wind and biofuels.

Wind farm manager in United States earns an average salary between $70,000 to $90,000 per year.

US ethanol industry currently employs more than 200,000 people despite the recent struggle.

Biomass and biofuels industry currently employs around 350,000 people in United States.

It is estimated that wind power sector in Iowa currently employs close to 4000 people.

Solar energy industry is most developed in California where it employs more than 30,000 people. In 2009 alone, California added more than 5000 new renewable energy jobs, most of which in solar industry.

Oregon has lately experienced real boom in new green jobs, especially in solar power industry. Solar power industry in Oregon currently employs more than 1000 people, mostly in manufacturing solar power gear.

It is expected that the number of solar energy jobs in United States would grow by 26% compared to 2010.

More than half of US solar energy companies expect to add new jobs in 2011.

In 2011 there should be around 3000 new geothermal energy jobs in United States, mostly in California and Nevada.

By the year 2020 the US biofuel industry should account to around 800,000 green energy jobs (both direct and indirect).

U.S. hydropower industry currently accounts for approximately 250,000 direct jobs.

Domestic oil drilling - Good or bad energy option?

A not so long ago president Obama backed new drilling for oil and natural gas off parts of the US coastline. This support was supposedly a president's idea to decrease nation's energy dependence on foreign oil import but can this idea really work, and will U.S. really be less dependent on foreign oil with domestic offshore oil drilling?

Many energy experts agree that domestic offshore oil drilling is not only unwise energy option from environmental but also from economical point of view. Why? Because it is very likely that domestic oil will in the end cost even more than the foreign oil, and given the current economic times we live in there won't be many people that will be thrilled to support the idea of buying more expensive energy option just because it is domestic, heck if that was the case than we wouldn't see the cheap stuff from China everywhere we turn to.

Capital costs of these projects are projected to be very high, and U.S. still needs to test potential sites by making drilling tests and some other required tests and studies that of course don't come cheap either. And once domestic oil starts flowing you can be sure that these upfront costs will be included in final oil price making it more expensive compared to foreign fuel option.

How many of you would buy more expensive oil just because of its domestic origin? In today's economy patriotism doesn't pay off, and cheaper solutions are always the popular ones. In reality, the only thing that could make people buy more expensive domestic oil is some government regulation, and this definitely wouldn't go well with public.

Renewable energy is much better option, and instead of drilling for domestic oil U.S. should put more efforts to develop renewable energy technologies in order to make renewable energy projects more feasible. Yes, renewable energy option is still a rather expensive option but offshore oil drilling doesn't come cheap either. Therefore, renewable energy is definitely the better option, if not for anything else then because of its environmental benefits.

But U.S. still fails to realize this rather simple logic, and this is really the main reason why U.S. is currently well behind China in global clean energy race.

Fossil fuels vs renewable energy in United States

Fossil fuels are still dominant energy sources in United States, and their dominance doesn't look like being decently challenged by renewables in years to come. But this doesn't mean that everything looks negative for renewable energy sector in United States, on the contrary, the latest data shows that Americans used significantly more renewable energy resources in 2009 compared to previous years (especially wind energy).

According to the US Department of Energy Americans were in general using less energy in 2009 compared to previous years. There are two factors mainly responsible for this: recession and improved efficiency. Recession is connected with lower economic activity and thus decreased demand for energy, and higher efficiency appliances and vehicles were able to reduce energy demand even further.

Coal and petroleum are still heavily used in United States but recent data shows that United States used significantly less coal and petroleum in 2009 than in 2008. Wind energy was the most popular renewable energy source in 2009, and Americans were using significantly more wind power in 2009 compared to 2008.

Other renewable energy sources such as solar, geothermal, and hydropower also experienced increase in use though this increase is significantly smaller compared to wind energy.

The estimated U.S. energy use in 2009 was 94.6 quadrillion BTUs, down from 99.2 quadrillion BTUs in 2008, and domestic energy use experienced decline in all important sectors (residential, commercial, industrial and transportation).

The significant increase of totally installed US wind power capacity in 2009 was mostly due to the more than acceptable incentives, and technological advancement of wind power technologies. To put it in other words, in 2009, the wind power technology got better and the incentives remained relatively stable (despite the financial crisis).

This has resulted in less CO2 emissions compared to previous years because Americans were burning less fossil fuels. It will be very interesting to see whether this trend will continue once energy demand starts to grow again, or will coal and petroleum, once again, grow in popularity.

Current wind energy development - US vs Germany

Offshore wind energy is becoming increasingly popular around the globe, and the latest example is Germany, especially after Norbert Röttgen, German Federal Environment Minister, announced that offshore wind power companies can rely on debt guarantees from the government to secure the financing of "10 mega projects" wind turbines in the North and Baltic seas up until the end of 2011.

This may seem as a surprise because very few energy experts expected such a strong support for offshore wind energy in Germany.

According to this new plan, 10,000 MW of offshore wind farm capacity should be built within the next 10 years, and 25,000 MW in the next 20 years, meaning that wind power should play key energy role in ensuring clean energy future for Germany.

This was confirmed by Röttgen's words when he said how he believes that Germany can "reach nearly 100% renewable energy by 2050, and wind power will provide about 50% of this".

This will no doubt attract many investors in Germany, and Germany looks set to become one of the leaders in global clean energy race.

As said above, offshore wind energy is becoming increasingly popular around the globe, and Europe currently leads the way by constantly adding new offshore wind projects. According to the latest reports this year was exceptional for offshore wind energy in Europe as European offshore wind farm installations have exceeded all expectations since more MW have been installed in the first half of this year than in the same period in 2009.

The same cannot be said for United States, and latest reports indicate that US wind energy sector is somewhat stagnating, with latest reports showing how only 1.24 GW of wind energy capacity was added in the first half of this year, less than half of the capacity installed in the same period in both 2008 and 2009.

Many energy experts agree that this slowdown in adding new wind energy capacity is mostly connected with the lack of adequate renewable energy policy that would show more support for new renewable energy projects in United States.

As AWEA chief executive Denise Bode said "strong federal policy supporting the US wind energy industry has never been more important, and Congress has to act now - before time runs out this session".

US natural gas statistics

In 2008 natural gas accounted for 23,8% of US primary energy consumption.

More than 50% of US homes are heated with natural gas.

It is estimated that there are around 1.3 million miles of underground gas pipelines across the United States.

In 2009 in United States, the price of natural gas was little over $4 per thousand cubic feet while in 2008 natural gas had biggest price of more than $13 per thousand cubic feet.

In 2009 United States increased its natural gas production more than any other country in the world. In fact, in 2009 US even managed to overtake Russia as the world's leading natural has producer. According to the EIA, 21 trillion cubic feet of natural gas was produced in the United States in 2009 which accounts to around 90% of total domestic natural gas consumption.

According to EIA there are 2,587 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas in the United States. U.S. natural gas reserves have been historically concentrated around Texas and the Gulf of Mexico but with the recent shale gas discovery some other US states are expected to play big role as natural gas producers such as New York, Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

According to the most recent calculations US accounts for around 3 percent of the world total natural gas reserves.

It is estimated that around 59 percent of the U.S. undiscovered natural gas resources is located on federal lands and offshore waters.

The top natural gas consuming US states are Texas, California and Louisiana.

Natural gas accounts for around 21,5% of electricity generated in United States.

Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming are the top US natural gas producing states accounting to around 80% of total US natural gas production.

95 percent of U.S. natural gas imports are coming from Canada.

Five US states have around one-half of the total US natural gas reserves: Alaska, Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

If US continues with current production rates it will have enough natural gas for about a 65-year supply.

There are currently around 288,000 wells in US that are producing natural gas.

In 2008, according to the data from the Natural Gas Supply Association there were approximately four million Americans employed either directly or indirectly by the US natural gas industry.

Natural gas vs wind energy in US

US president Obama was seen by many as the main driving force that will shift US energy policy towards renewable energy sources such as wind power, but after the recent election results, it can be clearly seen that Obama is first of all politician, and not environmentalist as some hoped he is.

After being asked how will US tackle environmental issues at the post-election conference Obama suddenly started mentioning natural gas as a "terrific natural resource" for United States. This was really the last thing that wind energy sector needed, and many wind energy supporters were left bitterly disappointed, not only by Obama's latest view on energy and environment but also about the fact that US can now might as well forget about cap and trade policy.

US solar energy sector is so far looking very good but this cannot be said for wind power industry which is somewhat stagnating. The US wind power industry, despite achieving tremendous growth in the last couple of years, is still standing on shaky legs, and the last thing US wind developers need right now is more focus on natural gas.

Can natural gas really have such a negative impact on further development of wind industry in United States? The answer is yes it can.

First of all natural gas is significantly less polluting compared to coal, and in general the cleanest fossil fuel. Second, a big new shale gas discoveries are coming on line across the US. Third, natural gas can be moved easily through existing pipelines, and their is no need for new expensive transmission infrastructure, and it can be also stored in underground formations.

Wind energy desperately needs new transmission lines in many parts of the US, which comes anything but cheap. Generally speaking transmission system is the main obstacle which wind energy sector will need to overcome in order to continue its rapid growth in years to come.

Wind energy also requires adequate storage solution(s) because wind-generated electricity still cannot be stored. Wind power also suffers from intermittency because wind doesn't blow all the time.

It will be very interesting to see whether federal and state governments will ensure adequate funds to create better transmission system for wind-generated electricity.

Without big money US wind power industry will not be able to compete with natural gas, regardless of environmental benefits. Therefore, it's really no wonder that Obama has jumped on natural gas bandwagon, after all he's politician, and from political point of view natural gas currently seems as the more acceptable option.

US ethanol fuel statistics

United States is world's leading producer of ethanol. In 2008 United States produced 9 billion U.S. liquid gallons of ethanol fuel, and 10.6 billion U.S. liquid gallons of ethanol fuel in 2009. This represents around 55% of world's total ethanol production.

The ethanol market share in the U.S. gasoline supply was little less than 8% in 2009.

Portland, Oregon, was the first city in the United States that required all gasoline sold within city limits to contain at least 10% ethanol.

At the end of 2009 US had 189 ethanol distilleries in operation.

Most US ethanol is produced from corn. Current estimates say that around 36% of corn produced in 2010/11 will go to produce ethanol.

US ethanol industry currently employs around 210,000 people. The record year was 2005 when US ethanol industry created more than 150,000 new jobs.

There are currently around 2400 stations in the United States that sell E85 (the most common blend of ethanol).

It was estimated that around 21 percent of U.S. ethanol production capacity was shut down in 2009 because of financial crisis.

At the end of 2008 there were around eight million E85-compatible vehicles on U.S. roads.

Iowa is the nation's largest ethanol producer, followed by Nebraska and Illinois. Iowa represents 26% of nation's total ethanol production with around 3.5 billion gallons.

US ethanol industry has projected 45 billion litres of ethanol production for the year 2010.

US electricity statistics

Renewable energy sources such as biomass, hydropower and wind power currently satisfy around 11% of US electricity demand.

Hydropower accounts for the most electricity coming from renewables in US with 6,8% of US total electricity use.

US is the world's largest consumer and producer of electricity, followed by China and Japan. In the January 2010, US had total electricity generation of 3992 billion KWh while China had 3715 billion KWh.

In the first half of 2010 the electricity coming from wind power increased by 21.4%, and electricity from solar power by 16.4% in US.

Coal currently generates around 49% of US total electricity. This is because coal still remains the cheapest fuel when it comes to operating costs. In the last 40 years the use of coal to generate electricity in the U.S. has nearly tripled because of the rapidly growing electricity demand.

Nuclear power plants currently generate around 20% of US electricity. The average US nuclear power plant generates around 12.4 billion kWh.

It is expected that solar power, with the current growth, could account by more than 4% of US electricity by 2020.

According to the data from 2008 the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 11,040 kWh, an average of 920 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month. Tennessee had the highest annual consumption at 15,624 kWh and Maine the lowest at 6,252 kWh.

More than 17% of generated electricity in US is used for cooling and ventilation.

Around 13,5% of total U.S. electricity consumption goes to lightning.

Texas is the nation's largest electricity consumer followed by California, Florida, Ohio and New York. In 2008 Texas consumed 347,050 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Nation's lowest electricity consumer is the state of Vermont, followed by Alaska and Rhode Island.

Computers account for around 3% of US total electricity consumption.

Hawaii is the US state with the lowest estimated average residential electricity consumption per person with 2,382 kilowatt-hours in 2008.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that US electricity demand will grow by 41% by 2030.

Americans want more clean energy and new energy policy

71 percent of Americans believe that US needs to lead in clean energy race, in terms of clean energy jobs and technologies." However, US will have tough time achieving this because China has taken convincing lead in global clean energy race, and Chinese are certainly not slowing down, in fact they are constantly increasing tempo, and US certainly has a lot of catching up to do. China is currently world's largest manufacturer of both wind turbines as well as solar panels, and accounts for more than one million clean energy jobs.

Over 56% of Americans agree the use of federal dollars to either directly support or to guarantee loans for the development of renewable energy sources, such as wind energy and solar energy. However, there are also 23% of Americans that would rather pick nuclear energy instead of renewable energy sources.

75 percent of Americans want energy policy that promotes clean power. Such policy would no doubt encourage innovation, create new jobs and make foundations for a stronger economy.

79 percent of Americans want clean energy revolution in form of orderly phasing out of fossil fuels and the phasing in of clean, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

The worrying discovery was the fact that 71 percent of Americans have only very small degree of confidence that current elected officials in the United States will act decisively on energy issues. However, if you analyze latest political moves regarding national renewable energy policy, it is easy to see why very few Americans have trust in US officials.

These were some of the most interesting findings coming from major new survey of more than 1,000 Americans conducted by Opinion Research Corporation for the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute.

These results clearly suggest that Americans want more clean, renewable energy, and that they are not satisfied with the current US energy policy, especially with China's dominance in clean energy race.

US geothermal energy statistics

US is global geothermal energy leader with an installed geothermal capacity of 3,086 megawatts (MW) in 2010.

Geothermal energy is the fourth most important renewable energy source in the United States (behind hydropower, biomass and wind power) accounting for around 4% of renewable energy-based electricity consumption in the U.S.

United States generates around 15 billion kilowatt hours of geothermal power per year, which makes around 30% of the world's total.

US currently has 77 geothermal power plant, most of which are located in California (43).

California is the leading US state in installed geothermal power capacity with a total output bigger than 2500 MW.

The most active geothermal energy area in United States is the Geysers, California. The Geysers is large geothermal facility consisting of 22 geothermal power plants (dry steam), with total capacity bigger than 1500 MW.

An average geothermal power plant in United States emits around 122 kg of CO2 per megawatt-hour of electricity.

Average geothermal power plant in United States needs approximately 20 litres of freshwater per MWh, and 3.5 square kilometres per gigawatt of electrical production.

Operational and maintenance costs of geothermal power plants in United States are $0.01 - $0.03 per kWh.

Geothermal power plants in United States have installation costs of around $2500 per installed kW.

More than 90 percent of US geothermal resources are found on federal lands.

Top three geothermal energy producers in United States are California, Nevada and Utah.

US installs more than 50,000 geothermal heat pumps each year.

Geothermal energy currently satisfies around 20% of Hawaii's power demand.

US geothermal energy sector has experienced growth of 26% in 2009.

Ten reasons why US should go for offshore wind power

1. US has enormous offshore wind energy potential. US could produce more than 4,000 GW of electricity from offshore wind — four times the nation’s current generating capacity from all other energy sources.

2. Offshore wind energy projects have significantly larger efficiency compared to wind projects on land because offshore winds are much more powerful and blow with significantly higher frequency than the ones on land.

3. With well developed offshore wind energy sector US would improve its energy security.

4. With well developed offshore wind energy sector US would be more energy independent, and wouldn't have to rely so much on foreign fuel import.

5. The strong development of offshore wind industry would create many well payed renewable energy jobs. For instance, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory calculated that if US would develop at least 54 gigawatts of offshore wind energy (the amount needed to reach the goal of producing 20 percent of its electricity from wind by 2030) then this would mean around 45,000 well payed jobs within the domestic offshore wind industry.

6. Global offshore wind energy market will grow significantly in years to come, and developing strong offshore wind energy sector could mean better competitiveness with China in clean energy race.

7. Offshore wind farms could be built significantly larger compared to the ones on land, which means that they could produce lot more electricity.

8. Offshore wind farms carry very small environmental risks.

9. Offshore wind farms are not connected with complaints about visual appeal since most of them are barely visible from the land.

10. Offshore wind energy sector could give boost to US wind energy sector that is somewhat stagnating in 2010, after the tremendous growth in 2008 and 2009.

US solar energy statistics

United States has experienced rapid growth of solar power industry in the last couple of years but still solar power accounts for less than 1 percent of United States electricity use.

The largest solar power installation in United States (and also in the world) is the Solar Energy Generating Systems facility in California, with a total capacity of 354 megawatts (MW).

Solar power is very popular renewable energy option in US with 75% of Americans wanting to see more solar power plants developed on public lands.

In 2009, US solar energy industry experienced growth of 37%.

In 2009, domestic manufacturing of solar power technologies in US increased by 7%.

California leads the way in installed solar capacity in US with 1,102 MW. The second ranked is the state of New Jersey that is far behind with 128 MW.

If we look at the watts per capita numbers we can see that Nevada is the nation's leader with 37.8 watts per capita of solar capacity, followed by California with 29,8, and Hawaii with 20,9.

At the end of 2009 the total installed solar power capacity in US was enough to supply more than 350,000 US homes.

In 2009, solar energy industry accounted for more than 17,000 new green jobs in United States.

US currently produces less than 5% of world's solar cells.

By the year 2020, given current trend of growth and government's support, US solar power industry should account for more than 200,000 new green jobs.

The United States is currently the third largest photovoltaic market, behind Germany and Italy.

US coal statistics

Currently, 26 US states produce coal, and the largest coal producing state is Wyoming.

Coal is currently the most abundant fossil fuel in United States, and if US continues to use coal in the future at the same rate as today, it should have enough coal for the next 300 years.

Coal is more cost effective compared to oil and natural gas, in average 3,5 times more cheaper than oil and natural gas.

More than 90% of US coal is used to generate electricity.

24.8% of world's coal reserves are found within the United States.

Coal currently accounts for around 45% of US electricity production.

In 2009, US total primary coal production was 1,072,752 thousand short tons. The total coal consumption in the same year was 1,000,424 thousand short tons.

In 2009 United States imported 22,639 thousand short tons of coal, significantly less than 34,208 in 2008, mostly due to the financial crisis.

In 2009, US exported 59,097 thousand short tons of coal.

In 2009, the total US CO2 emissions resulted from the consumption of the coal were 2,125.168 million metric tons.

In the last 40 years, coal production in United States has increased by 71%.

In the United States, the most efficient coal power plants achieve efficiency of around 40 percent. The typical efficiency for coal power plant is 34,3%.

Coal power plants have operation and maintenance costs at approximately 0.75 cents per kilowatt hour, and a total fuel and operating costs averaging at 2.83 cents per kilowatt hour.

US currently has over 600 coal power plants.

Coal power plants are losing popularity in United States because coal is labeled as the dirtiest fuel, mostly responsible for climate change issue; this is the main reason why more than 90% of new power plants that will be built in the United States will likely be fueled by natural gas, which is a less polluting fossil fuel compared to coal.

US biomass energy statistics

At the end of 2009 biomass provided around 3 percent of all energy consumed in the United States.

The most common form of biomass in United States is wood, representing around 50% of all biomass used in US.

Garbage and waste are also form of biomass, and they account for around 12% of the total biomass energy consumed in the United States.

United States today has around 80 waste-to-energy plants in the United States that generate electricity for around 1,3 million US homes.

The largest biomass power plant in North America in United States is the New Hope Power Partnership, Florida with the capacity of 140 MW. This plant can supply electricity for around 60,000 US homes.

Biomass currently produces 14 times more renewable energy for the United States than wind and solar energy combined.

Biomass in United States currently accounts for more than 300,000 green jobs.

More than 100 biomass power plants are currently connected to the electrical grid in the United States.

About 35% of the sales generation biomass plants are located in California. California currently has around 30 biomass power plants.

The average biomass power plant capacity in the United States is 21 MW.

Around 1.5 kg of Biomass will produce 1 unit (kWh) of power.

According to the he Biomass Power Association biomass power is a $1 billion worth industry in the United States.

US renewable energy statistics

Renewable energy currently accounts for 10,1% of domestically produced electricity.

Hydropower is the most important renewable energy in United States, accounting for 66.8% of the total renewable power in the U.S. in 2008, and 6% of nation's electricity.

Currently installed wind power capacity in United States of around 35,200 MW is enough to satisfy energy needs of more than 9,7 million households.

California is leading US state when it comes to renewable energy, with 31 percent of California's electricity coming from renewable sources (most from hydropower).

In the 2008 US became world leader in installed wind power capacity.

Geothermal energy currently meets less than 1% of U.S. power needs.

United States is world leader in generation of electricity from geothermal energy, and geothermal energy generates an average of 15 billion kilowatt hours of geothermal power per year, around 30% of the world total.

The largest photovoltaic power plant in United States is the 25 MW DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Florida.

Solar water heating capacity in US is bigger than 1,000 megawatts (MW, enough for around 1.5 million homes and businesses.

Solar power currently provides less than 1% of U.S. energy needs.

In 2009, US solar energy industry experienced growth of 37%, despite the financial crisis.

United States is world's leading ethanol fuel producer with 9 billion U.S. liquid gallons of ethanol fuel produced in 2008.

U.S. ethanol industry currently employs more than 200,000 people.

In 2009, US wind power industry accounted for more than 85,000 jobs.

Current biomass power capacity in the United States is around 11,000 MW.

The largest biomass power plant in United States is New Hope Power Partnership biomass power plant located in Florida with the capacity of 140 megawatts.

U.S. currently produces around 5% of world's solar cells.