Fossil fuels accounted for about 80 percent of the energy consumed in the United States in 2017, recording its lowest share since 1902, according to U.S. Department of Energy’s Monthly Energy Review, published at the end of June this year.
During the same period, renewable energy accounted for over 11 percent of consumption, its highest level yet. The report notes that 2017 was the third year in a row the U.S. has had a drop in domestic fossil fuel consumption.
The drop in fossil fuel use has been driven – in part – by a 2.5 percent drop in the use of coal, following a decade-long downward trend in coal consumption that has seen coal use fall 40 percent since 2005.
Domestic natural gas consumption also fell slightly in 2017, with a decline of about 1,4 percent. This was despite the surge in domestic production, as well as increased demand globally, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Petroleum continues to be the biggest driver of fossil fuel consumption, primarily in the use of gasoline. Petroleum use increased slightly in 2017, but still remains 10 percent below its peak set in 2005. This statistic appears to be in line with the prediction that gasoline will soon be displaced as the main driver of petroleum production worldwide.
The EIA states: “Energy consumption in the United States has undergone many changes over the course of the nation’s history, from wood as the primary resource in the 18th and 19th centuries, to the onset of coal and petroleum use, to more modern rise of nuclear power in the late 20th century and to renewables in the early 21st century.”
