What sources provide electrical power in the United States?

Electrical power accounts for approximately 70% of the total energy consumed in the United States in 2014. Electrical power comes from 4 non-renewable sources - natural gas, which is the largest and produces approximately 27% of our electricity, petroleum, coal, and nuclear. These sources provide approximately 87% of the electricity consumed in the US. A variety of renewable sources including hydroelectric, wind and solar, together provide the remaining 13%. It should be noted that these figures include utility-scale solar power only, i.e., rooftop solar is not included.

In the first quarter of 2015 renewable energy accounted for approximately 84% of the new power generation brought on board, with the majority of that being small scale solar installation. Small scale solar installations are estimated to provide approximately 0.7% of current US power generation.

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