Electricity generation by U.S. state

U.S. states vary radically in terms of electricity generation. Vermont is the cleanest, while Delaware is the dirtiest.

From BigThink.com, Sept 28, 2021 (excerpts)

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The U.S. gets 60 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels, but plans are afoot to drastically reduce that share.

• How? Look at the energy mix per state. As this map shows, some are way ahead of the curve. Others, not so much.

• Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware is America’s worst polluter – if only in relative terms.

Worst in class: Delaware

So much for the top of the class. While they get at least two-thirds of their electricity from sustainable sources, none of the bottom ten even manages a quarter. They are:

1. Delaware (5.4 percent)
2. Rhode Island (8.1 percent)
3. Mississippi (13.4 percent)
4. Kentucky (14.9 percent)
5. West Virginia (14.9 percent)
6. Indiana (16.3 percent)
7. Florida (17.3 percent)
8. Utah (19.1 percent)
9. Ohio (22.5 percent)
10. Hawaii (22.5 percent)

President Biden’s home state of Delaware holds a deplorable record in electricity production. The First State is dead last when it comes to its share of sustainably generated power. Incidentally, Delaware is also the state that relies most heavily on natural gas for its energy (92.3 percent, just ahead of Rhode Island at 91.8 percent and well ahead of Mississippi in third placed at 80.4 percent).

The next three worst-performing states rely mostly on coal (which is more polluting than natural gas): Kentucky (62 percent), West Virginia (80 percent), and Indiana (48 percent). Hawaii is the only state on this list to rely primarily on petroleum (66.1 percent)….

Double, double oil and trouble

Petroleum is the smallest of the fossil-fuel sources for electricity. Hawaii is the nation’s leading petroleum-guzzler both in relative terms (by far, at 66.1 percent, with Alaska second at 16 percent) and in absolute terms, generating 6 TWh of electricity from petroleum. Following (in absolute terms) are Louisiana (3 TWh) and Florida (2 TWh)….

Going solar? Not so fast

From all the space and attention taken up by solar panels, you would think this was the main source of renewable energy. It is in fact only the fourth most important one, generating just 91 TWh nationwide in 2020. No state has solar as its main source of electricity. It achieves its three highest shares in the energy mix of two sun-kissed states, California (15.7 percent) and Nevada (13 percent), and — surprisingly — D.C. (8.8 percent)….

We can be brief about geothermal energy. It is the smallest of all energy sources nationwide (less than 17 TWh). It is significant only in Nevada (10.2 percent), California (6.1 percent), Hawaii (2.2 percent), and Utah (1 percent); generates less than one percent in Idaho, New Mexico, and Oregon; and contributes nothing everywhere else….

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