Earth Equity News

2009 Energy Use Declined by 4.6%. LiveScience, August 25, 2010. "The United States used significantly less coal and petroleum in 2009 than in 2008, and significantly more wind power, according to energy flow charts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)... There also was a decline in natural gas use and increases in use of alternative energy sources, including solar, hydrothermal and geothermal power, the researchers say. However, the consumption dip doesn't necessarily reflect a sea change in the way Americans think about and use energy, or a shift to more'green' behavior. Rather, the decrease is due, in part, to the current economic downturn as well as advances in technology... The estimated U.S. energy use in 2009 equaled 94.6 quadrillion BTUs, down from 99.2 quadrillion BTUs in 2008... 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) equals about 3,400 BTUs, with a typical American household consuming some 11,000 kWh per year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The significant decrease in coal used to produce electricity can be attributed to three factors: overall lower electricity demand, a fuel shift to natural gas and an offset created by more wind power production."