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Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S.
Electricity is a secondary energy source that is generated (produced) from primary
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In the United States, electricity derived from coal has decreased over the past two decades, with the annual output declining by almost 63 percent between 2010 and 2023. In contrast, there has been a rise in natural gas and renewable sources within the energy mix.
Most electricity in the U.S. is generated from steam turbines, which can be powered by fossil and nuclear fuels, biomass, geothermal, and solar thermal energy. Other systems such as gas turbines, hydro turbines, wind turbines, and solar photovoltaics are also major generation technologies. Electric utilities in the U.S. generated more than 2,176 terawatt hours in 2023, accounting for just over half of the power output in the country that year.
Renewable sources have become more prominent in the U.S. in recent years, particularly wind, hydro, and solar energy. The former has overtaken conventional hydropower, becoming the leading renewable energy source in the U.S. since 2019. Wind and solar power have also accounted for the largest share of electricity capacity additions in the country.
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Fossil fuels remain the greatest source of electricity generation worldwide. In 2023, coal accounted for roughly 35.5 percent of the global power mix, while natural gas followed with a 23 percent share. China, India, and the United States accounted for the largest share of coal used for electricity generation.
Fossil fuel use notwithstanding, the share of renewables in global electricity has seen a more pronounced year-on-year growth in recent years, following increased efforts by governments to combat global warming and a decrease in levelized costs. Projections indicate that renewables will surpass fossil fuels as the main power source by 2040.
China is the largest electricity consumer in the world, requiring more than 8,000 terawatt-hours of electricity every year. However, this economic power accounts for the largest population in the world and its electricity consumption per capita is almost tenfold smaller than the consumption of Iceland, although the power used in this country came almost completely from clean sources.
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Across the United States, over 11,000 utility-scale power plants generate electricity that is transmitted to customers via the nation''s electric power grid. Learn how the power sector has changed over time, how power sector emissions affect human health and the environment, and how EPA''s programs reduce emissions.
Learn more about the U.S. Electric Power Sector:
A range of technologies generate electricity in the U.S. The power sector consists of electricity generators operating in interconnected grid systems, usually regional in scale (in the lower 48 states).
Power plants generate electricity through various technologies that use fossil fuels, nuclear fuels, or renewable energy. Power plants that burn fuels generally use steam boilers, combustion turbines, or both.
Steam boilers burn fuel to heat water and produce steam. This steam is then channeled through a turbine, where it turns the blades and generates electricity.
Combustion turbines burn fuels to create exhaust gases, which spin the turbine to generate electricity. Some combustion turbines use waste heat from fuel combustion to produce steam to turn the blades of another turbine to generate electricity. These types of power plants are referred to as combined cycle power plants and are more efficient than steam boilers or combustion turbines alone.
Many power plants do not burn any fuel to generate electricity. Nuclear power plants are like steam boilers, but the steam is produced from nuclear reactions rather than from fuel combustion. Wind turbines and hydropower use wind or flowing water, respectively, to spin turbine blades that are connected to electricity generators. Solar thermal power plants are like steam boilers, but the steam is produced from concentrated solar energy instead of fuel combustion. Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels absorb light energy from the sun, charging electrons to generate electricity.
After electricity is generated, electrical equipment such as high voltage lines, substations, and transformers safely transmit electricity from its point of generation to the area where it is finally distributed to customers. This process requires careful planning and coordination among grid operators to ensure successful delivery of electricity and is affected by new power generation and storage sources connecting to the grid. Interact with the diagram below by clicking each component and visit U.S. Energy Information Agency''s "Electricity explained: How electricity is delivered to customers" for more information.
Electricity is integral to modern life – used for residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation purposes. Today, there are approximately 11,000 utility-scale electric power plants in the U.S., providing electricity through over 160,000 miles of high voltage lines. Users rely on electricity for lighting, heating, cooling, refrigeration, vehicle charging, manufacturing, and for operating appliances, computers, and electronics.
The following chart is interactive. Click to see each sector''s respective electricity consumption.
Energy sources range from emissions-intensive (e.g., coal) to zero-emitting (e.g., nuclear, solar, wind, and hydro). The use of coal and natural gas to produce electricity is the key driver of the power sector''s overall pollution emission levels.
In 2022, fossil fuels remained the most common fuel type for electricity production in the U.S. The primary fuel type was natural gas, accounting for about 39.8% of total energy production nationwide. Coal was the second most common fuel type, accounting for 19.7% of electricity production. Nuclear was third at 18.2%. Zip code-level electricity mix data are available on Power Profiler.
Fossil fuel-fired power plants remain a leading source of air pollution. Each fossil fuel has unique impacts on the environment. For example, coal combustion is the largest single source of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and the second largest source of nitrogen oxides (NOX), which together form fine particulate matter (PM). NOXemissions also lead to the formation of ground-level ozone. Fossil fuel combustion also produces significantly more greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, per unit of energy produced. Toxic heavy metals such as mercury (Hg) are also a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion, threatening the environment and human health.
In addition, SO2 and NOX emissions and resulting atmospheric deposition of pollution cause acid rain, which damages lakes, streams, forests, grasslands, and other ecosystems in the U.S. NOX emissions are a large source of atmospherically deposited nitrogen, which contributes to nutrient enrichment of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. This increased nitrogen pollution reduces plant biodiversity, causes eutrophication of freshwater waterbodies and coastal estuaries, and may lead to harmful algal blooms.
Mining, drilling, and extraction of fossil fuels also adversely impact the surrounding water, soil, and air. More information and resources on the air quality and health impacts of SO2, NOX,and greenhouse gas emissions can be found in the human health impacts webpage.
There are various technological, operational, and management options for power plants that burn fossil fuels to reduce their emissions.
Pollution control technologies such as:
For more information on the U.S. electricity system, see the U.S. Energy Information Agency''s "Electricity Explained" webpage and the EPA''s "About the U.S. Electricity System and its Impact on the Environment" webpage.
The Green Power Markets web area has series of webpages that explore the history and operations of the U.S. green power market.
The electric power sector is rapidly transforming, and use of renewable energy sources in the grid is expanding rapidly, along with increased electricity storage capability.Learn more about how the electric power sector has evolved over time►
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Electricity cannot be mined from the ground like coal. So it is called a secondary source of energy, meaning that it is derived from primary sources, including coal, natural gas, nuclear fission reactions, sunlight, wind, and hydropower. Most direct uses of primary energy are limited to generating heat and motion. Electricity, by contrast, is extremely versatile, with a wide range of complex applications. Electricity plays such an essential role in contemporary American life that its supply and demand are often examined separately from the primary sources used to produce it.
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