Renewable Energy Surpasses Nuclear in the US

According to Monthly Energy Review, published by the Energy Information Administration, renewable energy production has surpassed nuclear energy production in the US.

During the first three months of 2011, energy produced from renewable energy sources (biomass/biofuels, geothermal, solar, hydro, wind) generated 2.245 quadrillion Btus of energy equating to 11.73 percent of U.S. energy production. During this same time period, renewable energy production surpassed nuclear energy power by 5.65 percent. In total, energy produced from renewables is 77.15 percent of that from domestic crude oil production.

When looking at all energy sectors, production of renewable energy has increased by a little over 15 percent when compared to first quarter of 2010, and by more than 25 percent when compared to the first quarter of 2009. Of this total, biomass/biofuels accounted for approximately 48 percent of this total followed by hydropower at 35.41 percent Hydropower (an increase of 28.7 percent over last year), wind at 12.87 percent (an increase of 40.3 percent over last year), geothermal at 2.45 percent (an increase of 28.7 percent over last year) and lastly solar at 1.16 percent (an increased of 104.8 percent compared to last year).

While nuclear energy has seen a slight increase in power generation, for the most part it has remained steady.

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