Solar Panels Produced 1.9% as Much Energy as Fossil Fuels in 2021

(CNSNews.com) – Solar panels produced only 1.9 percent as much energy in the United States in 2021 as did fossil fuels, according to data published by U.S. Department of Energy.

When the energy produced by windmills is added to the energy produced by solar panels, those two sources combined produced 6.2 percent as much energy as fossil fuels in 2021.

In fact, all renewable energy sources combined—including hydroelectric power, geothermal power, solar power, wind power and biomass power—produced only 15.9 percent as much power last year as fossil fuels.

Table 1.2 in the May edition of the Department of Energy’s Monthly Energy Review lists how much energy has been produced historically in the United States by the source of its production.

In 2021, according to this table, the United States produced a total of 97.778 quadrillion Btu (British thermal units) in energy. That was up from the 95.672 quadrillion Btu in 2020, but down from the record 101.437 quadrillion Btu that the United States had produced in 2019.

The single largest source of energy production in the United States in 2021 was dry natural gas, which produced a record 35.409 quadrillion Btu.

The second largest source was crude oil, which produced 23.239 quadrillion Btu.

The third largest was coal, which produced 11.621 quadrillion Btu.

The fourth largest was nuclear electric power, which produced 8.139 quadrillion Btu.

The fifth largest was natural gas liquids, which produced 7.061 quadrillion Btu.

The sixth largest was biomass, which produced 4.998 quadrillion Btu.

The seventh largest was wind, which produced 3.332 quadrillion Btu.

The eighth largest was hydroelectric power, which produced 2.283 quadrillion Btu.

The ninth largest was solar, which produced 1.501 quadrillion Btu.

And the tenth largest was geothermal, which produced 0.206 quadrillion Btu.

Taken together, the 77.330 quadrillion Btu in energy produced by fossil fuels in the United States in 2021 equaled approximately 79.1 percent of the nation’s total energy production of 97.778.

Renewable energy sources produced a combined total of 12.320 quadrillion Btu, which equaled approximately 12.6 percent of the nation’s total energy production.

The 8.129 quadrillion Btu produced by nuclear power was approximately 8.3 percent of the nation’s total energy production.

The 1.501 quadrillion Btu of energy produced by solar power in 2021 was only approximately 1.9 percent of the 77.330 quadrillion Btu produced by fossil fuels, and was only approximately 1.5 percent of the nation’s total energy production of 97.778 quadrillion BTU.

The 3.332 quadrillion Btu of energy produced by wind power in 2021 was only approximately 4.3 percent of the 77.330 quadrillion Btu produced by fossil fuels, and was only approximately 3.4 percent of the nation’s total energy production of 97.778 quadrillion Btu.

The combined 4.883 quadrillion Btu produced by solar and wind in 2021 was only approximately 4.9 percent of the nation’s total energy production of 97.778

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