Americans’ energy use continued to grow slowly in 2014, fueled by increases in the use of natural gas, wind and solar, according to the most recent energy flow charts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. However, carbon emissions from coal and petroleum declined, while emissions from natural gas made up the difference. Overall, the carbon intensity of the American energy economy is decreasing, the analysis found.
In particular, solar energy use jumped dramatically by 33 percent from .32 quadrillion BTUs, or quads, in 2013 to .427 quads in 2014. Simon attributes the change to an unprecedented solar industry expansion coupled to low global prices for panels and innovative financing for homes and businesses. Both utility-scale solar (which feeds the power grid directly) and rooftop solar experienced rapid growth.
While its pace of deployment slowed considerably from 2012, wind energy was also up again by 8 percent, growing from 1.6 quads to 1.73 quads.