Other Sources of Energy for Electric Power Generation

Abstract

As noted previously, at this writing about 88 percent of total energy consumed in the United States is provided by combustion of fossil fuels, An additional 7.5 percent is supplied from nuclear energy in the form of electric power. Electric power supplies about 40 percent of total energy demand and is the fastest growing form of energy use, the rate of use of electric power increasing about twice as fast as the overall rate of increase in energy consumption generally. With the exception of the period of dramatic reduction in energy use between 1978 and 1982, overall energy consumption in the United States over the past several decades has increased at a rate of about three percent per year, while demand for electric power has increased at a rate of about six percent per year.