Hydro Dominates Share of U.S. Renewable Energy
Hydro with a large share of renewables. Photo Credit: EnviromentalLeader
The United States has a quite a bit of renewable energy capability. By percentage of total consumption, renewable energy production is small, but percentages aren't everything. As far as renewable energy goes, hydro power is the hands-down winner. It even amounts to almost 6% of all US energy consumption!
Solar and wind production have grown somewhat since 2007 (wind power grew 411% from '01 to '07), but they still lag behind hydro. Bear in mind, however, that hydro does have a head start with installations like the Hoover Dam. Biomass is a major player in the current power production model and "non-hydro renewable resources."
Solar does not fare so well. Despite a lot of talk about major solar installations coming into the US, they just aren't here yet. This graph from 2007 shows large-scale solar at 0.01%. That's grown exponentially to date, but no matter how much it has grown, it's nowhere near hydro's 2007 output of 247,509,975 MWh of generation. A "big" large-scale solar installation currently refers to anything above 50 MW, and most of those are just in the design/contract signing phase.
The US is lagging behind other nations in adding solar power. Germany, for instance, has plans to add 2.5-3 gigawatts of solar production this year. Germany already held one-third of all solar production capabilities in the world.
Someday, the US will catch up, but it will take creative financing, creative people and good, honest old-fashioned American business models to make it work. Simply put, solar (and the solar industry) can't work on paper only - it has to perform in the field.
Source: EnvironmentalLeader
Get FREE Solar Estimates
Our local Solar Contractors are licensed, bonded and insured.
Interested in Home Solar Energy?
Fill in your details below and certified solar contractors will give you FREE estimates.
Solar Blog
Solar
Library Articles
Here is what some folks have said about CalFinder Contractors:
More than happy with their service. High quality of work. Would have no hesitation in hiring them again.
We really appreciate all of your hard work and the entire Standard Solar team. Everyone did an awesome job and should be commended. I do not think that we had one issue from beginning to end. We appreciate your flexibility, dedication to the customer, hard work and managing all of the details that your team completed seamlessly. We are really thankful for Standard Solar helping with all of the certifications and government paperwork for our tax credits. With so much that could go wrong – yet didn’t – we know that it is not accident.