Renewable:

• Bio Energy: Biomass offers America tremendous opportunity to use domestic and sustainable resources to provide fuel, power and chemical needs from plants and plant-derived materials. The term "biomass" means any plant derived organic matter available on a renewable basis. Bio-energy ranks second (to hydropower) in renewable U.S. primary energy production. It accounts for 3% of the primary energy production in the United States.

 

• Geothermal: Energy from the heat of the Earth. It's clean and sustainable. Resources of geothermal energy range from the shallow ground to hot water and hot rock found a few miles beneath the Earth's surface. The U.S. Department of Energy supports geothermal research and is working in partnership with U.S. industries to establish geothermal energy as an economically competitive contribution to the U.S. energy supply.

 

• Hydropower: Also known as hydroelectric power, is a significant source of electricity in many parts of the U.S. The current facilities supply electricity to 28 million households. Researchers are working on advanced turbine technologies that will not only help maximize the use of hydropower, but also minimize adverse environmental impacts.

 

• Solar: Energy from the and is considered a secure, reliable, and clean energy choice. Solar power comes directly from the sun and is being developed into three primary technologies:

 

1. Photovoltaic cells which convert sunlight directly into electricity,

 

2. The use of reflective materials to concentrate the sun's heat energy, which drive generators to produce electricity,

 

3. Low-temperature solar collectors which absorb the sun's heat energy to directly heat water and or to heat space in homes, businesses, and industry.



 

• Wind: Use of energy of the wind to generate electricity, charge batteries, pump water, and grind grain. Wind turbines covert the kinetic energy the wind into other forms of energy. On the forefront at DOE: a development, and support for utilities, industry, and international wind energy projects.

Non-renewable:

• Coal: 1/4 of the world's reserves are found within the United States. Coal is the workhorse of the nation's electric power industry, supplying more than half the electricity consumed by Americans.

 

• Fossil Fuels: Coal, oil and natural gas currently provide more than 85% of all of the energy consumed in the United States, nearly 2/3 of our electricity , and virtually all of our transportation fuels. Due to our increasing reliance and an expanding economy, this figure is likely to increase for the next two decades.

 

• Nuclear: Nuclear power has been supplementing coal as a significant source of energy in the U.S. for many years. A key mission of the DOE's nuclear energy research and development program is to strengthen the basic technology and, through some of the most advanced citizen research , chart the way toward introduction of the nest generation of nuclear power plants.

 

• Hydrogen: A clean energy carrier(like electricity) made from diverse domestic resources such as renewable energy(solar, wind, geothermal), nuclear energy, and fossil fuel. Hydrogen, in the long term, is expected to reduce dependence on foreign oil and to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants. Hydrogen may or may not be from a renewable resource.

 


Sources of North Carolina Electricity



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