Solar Energy, Rounding To The Nearest Whole Number According To The US Government, Contributed Zero (0) Percent Of US Energy Consumption In 2014; That Was A 1.7% Increase Over The Previous Year

The US government has just released the preliminary US energy production and consumption data for 2014. Link is here:  http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/index.cfm?src=email.

This month’s monthly energy report (MER) includes the first complete set of 2014 preliminary statistics for U.S. total energy consumption, production, trade, and carbon dioxide emissions.  The report is posted at: http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/index.cfm?src=email

Note: Quadrillion: 1 x 10^15 (15 zeroes after the 1)

Preliminary energy data for calendar year 2014:

• U.S. primary energy consumption totaled 98 quadrillion Btu, a 1% increase compared with 2013.  Renewable energy and natural gas consumption each increased 3%, nuclear electric power consumption increased 1%, and petroleum consumption was virtually unchanged, and coal consumption decreased 1%.

Total energy consumption: 98 quadrillion--

• Wind energy consumption: 1,734 trillion Btu
• Solar energy consumption:  427 trillion Btu
• Wind + solar = 2,161

As a percentage of renewable -

• wind / wind + solar = 80%
• solar / wind + solar = 20%

As a percentage --

• Wind: 1,734 trillion / 98 quadrillion = 1.76939% (yes, less than 2%)
• Solar: 427 trillion / 98 quadrillion = 0.043571 (yes, rounding to nearest whole number = 0%)
• Wind + solar = 2,161 trillion / 98 quadrillion = 2.2051%

The good news: renewable energy consumption in the US increased by 3%

Back of the envelope:

• 2,161 / 1.03 = 2,098 trillion Btu in 2013
• wind: 80% x 2,098 = 1,678 Btu in 2013
• solar: 20% x 2,098 =  420 trillion Btu in 2013
• wind: 1,678 / 1,734 = a 3.3337% increase year-over-year
• solar: 420 / 427 = 1.7% increase year-over-year

Bottom line observations:

• between wind and solar, wind accounts for 80% of renewable energy consumption in the US
• between wind and solar, solar accounts for 20% of renewable energy consumption in the US

• wind energy consumption accounts for less than 2% of total energy consumption in the US
• rounding to the nearest whole number, solar energy accounts for 0% of total energy consumption in the US

• wind energy increased 3.3% year-over-year, 2013 to 2014, in the US
• solar energy increased 1.7% year-over-year, 2013 to 2014, in the US

These numbers are after a gazillion dollars of credits, grants, and advocacy over the past 30 years.

Diclaimer: I often make simple arithmetic errors. If this information is important to you, go to the source, which is conveniently linked at the top. 

For warmists: ask yourself if you are getting value from your tax dollars going to renewable energy.