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Empowering you to understand your world

Electricity Sources

This article contains electricity related statistics of various geographical locations.

The list below composes electricity sources for individual countries and what percentage of electricity comes from each source. I will mention recent trends, but they are subject to change. Please notify me if my notes are no longer correct, and pay careful attention to dates, these statistics can change drastically sometimes. If the date is more than a year ago, then please look for up to date statistics elsewhere.

About “picking” a source of energy to power the world’s homes and businesses, it makes no sense to use one source of energy everywhere, because each source of energy is better suited for certain areas. It is best to use the right technology in the places where it works best. Wind where it is windy, geothermal where there are suitable geothermal hotspots, solar where it is sunny, etc.

Please note that there are also grid-tie generators which help to supply electricity to the grid, including, solar, wind, diesel, gas, river, and other types of generators. the average costs of electricity listed below are for households.

Note: Gas powered generators are sometimes used as peaking power plants which are required sometimes to help baseload power plants such as coal and nuclear to meet electricity demand. Peaking power plants do account for a percentage of electricity generated, but sadly, I do not yet know how exactly the department of energy calculated the electricity sources figures below.

Hungary

Power consumption from 1980-2006 in billions of kilowatt-hours bkWh):

  • 1980: 27.385
  • 1981: 27.722
  • 1982: 28.767
  • 1983: 30.007
  • 1984: 31.552
  • 1985: 32.429
  • 1986: 33.084
  • 1987: 34.594
  • 1988: 34.593
  • 1989: 34.795
  • 1990: 34.141
  • 1991: 31.849
  • 1992: 30.509
  • 1993: 29.295
  • 1994: 29.586
  • 1995: 29.877
  • 1996: 30.735
  • 1997: 30.927
  • 1998: 31.033
  • 1999: 31.888
  • 2000: 31.831
  • 2001: 32.876
  • 2002: 33.996
  • 2003: 34.913
  • 2004: 35.310
  • 2005: 36.063
  • 2006: 37.109
  • 2007: ——
  • 2008: 40.030

Notes:

  • Power consumption increased by 9.724 billion kWh, or 26% (in 2006) since 1980.
  • The highest power consumption between 1980 and 2006 was in 2006.
  • Power consumption has been increasing steadily and consistently since 1993, except in the year 2000.

Russia (2005)

  • Natural Gas: 55%
  • Oil: 19%
  • Hydroelectric: 6%
  • Coal: 16%
  • Nuclear: 5%

 

Notes:

  • There has been a recent decline in the usage of oil to generate electricity compared to other sources.
  • 66% of Russia’s electricity is generated using low emissions sources.

France’s Electricity Sources (2006)

  • Hydroelectric: 11.1%
  • Nuclear: 78.1%
  • Natural Gas: 3.8%
  • Fossil Fuels: 1.8%
  • Coal: 3.9%
  • Other: 1.3%

 

Average Cost of Electricity in 2009: $0.169 USD or €0.132 Euros/kWh.

Average Cost of Electricity in 2015:

Iceland’s Electricity Sources

  • Geothermal: 13%
  • Hydroelectric: 87%

Norway’s Electricity Sources

  • Thermal Power: 0.62%
  • Wind: 0.36 %
  • Hydroelectric: 98.6 %

Sweden’s Electricity Sources (Per Capita) (2006)

  • Nuclear: 51%
  • Hydroelectric: 40%
  • Biofuels and waste: 5%
  • Fossil Fuels: 3%

Japan’s Electricity Sources (2008)

  • Conventional Thermal: 67%
  • Nuclear: 24%
  • Hydroelectric: 7%
  • Other Renewables: 2%

United States Electricity Sources (2008)

  • Coal: 32.8%
  • Natural Gas: 28.7%
  • Crude Oil: 15%
  • Nuclear: 10.9%
  • Biomass: 5%
  • Hydroelectric: 2%
  • Natural Gas Plant Liquids: 2%
  • Solar, Wind, Geothermal: 1%

2010

  • Coal: 45.9%
  • Nuclear: 19.9%
  • Natural Gas: 21.8%
  • Conventional Hydroelectric: 6.8%
  • Other sources: 4.6%
  • Petroleum: 0.9%

2014

  • Coal: 38.7%.
  • Natural Gas: 27.4%.
  • Nuclear: 19.4%.
  • Renewable Sources (excluding hydro): 6.8%.
  • Hydroelectric power (conventional): 6.3%.
  • Petroleum Liquids: 0.45%.
  • Petroleum Coke: 0.28%.
  • Other Gas: 0.28%.

Source: DOE: Electric Power Monthly

Average Cost of Electricity: 12.35 cents/kWh (USD).

Source: DOE PDF File: Electricity Production By Source and History

Additional Information and Sources

DOE: Electricity Prices for Households

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