Bharat Book Bureau

The major energy sources in the United States are petroleum (oil), natural gas, coal, nuclear, and renewable energy. The major users are residential and commercial buildings, industry, transportation, and electric power generation. The pattern of fuel use varies widely by sector. For example, oil provides 96% of the energy used for transportation, but only 2% of the energy used to generate electric power. Understanding the relationships between the different energy sources and their uses provides insights into many important energy issues.

How can we compare different fuels?

Primary energy includes petroleum, natural gas, coal, nuclear fuel, and renewable energy. Electricity is a secondary energy source that is generated from these primary forms of energy.

Primary energy sources are commonly measured in different units: barrels (= 42 gallons) of oil, cubic feet of natural gas, tons of coal. To compare across fuels, we need to use a common unit of measure. The United States uses Btu, or British thermal units, which measure fuel use by the energy content of each fuel source.

Total U.S. energy use in 2007 was a little more than 100 quadrillion (=1015, or one thousand trillion) Btu. One quadrillion Btu, often referred to as a “quad,” therefore represents about 1% of total U.S. energy use.

In physical energy terms, 1 quad represents 172 million barrels of oil (8 to 9 days of U.S. oil use), 50 million tons of coal (enough to generate about 2% of annual U.S. electricity use), or 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (about 4% of annual U.S. natural gas use).

The number of quads used in 2007 from each primary energy source is shown in the pie chart. Petroleum (oil) provides the largest share of U.S. primary energy, followed by natural gas, coal, nuclear energy, and renewable energy (including hydropower, solar, geothermal, wind, and biomass).

Which primary energy sources are used in each sector?

Primary energy is used in residential and commercial buildings (including homes, businesses, schools, and churches), in transportation, and by industry. Primary energy is also used to generate electricity. The bar chart shows the amount of primary energy used in each of these sectors. As you can see, electric power generation is the largest user of primary energy, followed by transportation.

The electric power sector uses primary energy to generate electricity, which makes electricity a secondary, rather than a primary, energy source. Nearly all electricity is then used in buildings and by industry. This means that the total levels of energy used by residential and commercial buildings, industry, and transportation are actually higher than the amounts shown on the graphics when electricity is added in.

The lines connecting the primary-energy-source circles with the demand-sector rectangles summarize the source-sector linkages in the U.S. energy system. For example, because all nuclear energy is used in the electric power sector to generate electricity, and nuclear represents 21% of the primary energy used, the line between nuclear energy and the electric power sector shows 100% on the nuclear (supply source) side and 21% on the electric power (demand sector) side.

The mix of primary energy sources varies widely across demand sectors. Energy policies designed to influence the use of a particular primary fuel for environmental, economic, or energy security reasons often focus on sectors that are major users of that fuel.

For example, because 70% of petroleum (oil) is used in the transportation sector, where it provides 96% of the total energy used, policies to reduce oil consumption have tended to focus on the transportation sector. These policies usually seek to increase fuel efficiency or promote alternative fuels. Ninety-one percent of coal, but only 2% of oil, is used to generate electricity, suggesting that policies affecting electricity generation are likely to have a much larger impact on coal use than oil use.

Some primary energy sources, such as nuclear and coal, are entirely or predominately used in one sector. Others, like natural gas and renewables, are more evenly distributed across sectors. Similarly, while transportation is almost entirely dependent on one fuel (oil), electric power uses a variety of fuels.

Do sources and uses of energy change?

Linkages between fuels and sectors can and do change over time, but the change tends to occur slowly. For example, coal was once used extensively as a fuel for heating homes and commercial buildings, but that use has dwindled to almost nothing in the United States over the past half-century. Although renewable energy is still relatively small as a share of total primary energy in the transportation and electric power sectors, its role has been growing.

Puzzle pieces showing an energy source and user.
What are the major sources and users of energy in the United States?
The major energy sources in the United States are petroleum (oil), natural gas, coal, nuclear, and renewable energy. The major users are residential and commercial buildings, industry, transportation, and electric power generation. The pattern of fuel use varies widely by sector. For example, oil provides 96% of the energy used for transportation, but only 2% of the energy used to generate electric power. Understanding the relationships between the different energy sources and their uses provides insights into many important energy issues.

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http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research-Reports/United-States-Energy-Report.html

Growing levels of smoke gathered emanation from ocean travelling ships will result into nearly 87,000 demises worldwide per year by 2012- greater than currently believed, state studies on this topic, further stating government step in taking into consideration lowering sulfur emanations from shipping fuel (the key of air pollution connected to higher risks of sickness and death) would bring down the toll.  Ships giving out toxic exhaust fumes from diesel fuel add to the demises of tens of thousands of people in Europe, Asia and the United States every year. As many as 60,000 people residing in seaward communities along major shipping paths died from lung and heart charges as a consequence of high sulfate discharges from ships in 2002, according to the study released by the American Chemical Society.  Read more about Market Potential of Biodiesel

With worldwide marine trade on the rise and little ordinance of ship discharges, that death toll could rise to as many as 82,000 by 2012, says the report. The study’s U.S. Writers said diesel-powered ships burn some of the filthiest fuel on the planet today – on average, having almost 2,000 times the sulfur content of highway diesel fuel in the United States and Europe.

The study was authorized in part by Clean Air Task Force and Friends of the Earth International, which are talking terms with the U.N. International Maritime Organization for new ordinances to bring down shipping discharges.

A 2007 researchers’ study supposed nearly 60,000 amidst the masses expired prematurely across the world because of shipping-connected emanations in the year 2002. Majority of the ocean travelling ships light fuels containing high sulfur quantity that arrives at an average of 2.4 percent, James Winebrake and colleagues report. Their smokestacks discharge sulfur-containing contents connected to higher risks of diseases of the heart and lung. The toll according to the latest research indicates it could increase to 87,000 by 2012.

Restricting ships emissions by either limiting sulfur quantity in fuel or entitling air pollution monitor areas to lower air pollution situated around immensely crowded coastal areas are being taken into consideration by policymakers. Needing ships to utilize marine fuel containing 0.5 percent sulfur between 200 nautical miles of shore would cut down premature deaths by nearly 41,200, the study evaluates. Deaths could be prevented further due to less sulfur reductions, they state, provided that supposed emission checkpoints will leave an affirmative mark.

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http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research/Biofuels.html