Thursday, November 10, 2011

Did the New York Times just inflate US solar electricity generation by a factor of three?

U.S. and China on Brink of Trade War Over Solar Power Industry - NYTimes.com

solar energy now contributes only about one-tenth of 1 percent of American electricity

11% of U.S. Energy Production from Renewable Resources in 2010 | CleanTechnica

Power sources other than hydro (i.e. wind, biomass, geothermal, and solar) increased 16.5% in 2010 when it came to electrical generation. In total, they accounted for 4.08% of net U.S. electrical generation. When including hydro, renewable resources accounted for 10.32%.

How was total electrical generation split amongst non-hydro renewable energy sources?

  • wind accounted for 56.3%
  • biomass for 33.6%
  • geothermal for 9.3%
  • solar for 0.8%.

When I multiply .0408 by .008, I get 0.0003264, which is shy of the Times' claim above by a factor of about three.

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