Nebraska's Renewable Energy Consumption


In 2009, Nebraska consumed 810.98 trillion British thermal units (Btu) of energy which included 87.51 trillion Btu of energy from renewable energy resources.  Renewable resources met 10.8 percent of Nebraska's energy consumption.  Nebraska consumed energy from these renewable resources in 2009:

  Biofuels
  Biomass
  Geothermal Energy
  Hydroelectric Power (Conventional)
  Photovoltaic and Solar Thermal Energy
  Wind Energy

Renewable energy consumption was equivalent to 219,000 cords of wood, 434 gigawatthours of conventional hydroelectric power, 56,490,000 gallons of ethanol, 66 trillion Btu of ethanol production and co–products, 383 gigawatthours of wind energy, 1 trillion Btu of geothermal energy, and 40 billion Btu of solar energy.



From 1960 to 1980, renewable energy in Nebraska consisted of conventional hydroelectric power and biomass.  Ethanol entered the picture in the early 1980s.  Geothermal energy and photovoltaic and solar thermal energy projects were reported in the late 1980s.  Wind energy projects came on line in the late 1990s.  Consumption of renewable energy has steadily increased although modestly.

As a percentage of total energy consumption, renewable energy consumption was relatively stable until 1995 when the percentage began an upward climb.  Biofuels had a major role in this increase.  Renewable energy consumption has ranged from 2.80 percent to 10.79 percent of total energy consumption.  The annual data differs from previous years' analyses due to the addition of the energy used to produce ethanol and the energy value contained in the dry/wet co–products of ethanol.

This report provides the amount of renewable energy used by Nebraskans.  The amount of renewable energy that generated electricity can be found in the report Annual Electricity Generation by Fuel Type.



Renewable Energy Consumption by Fuel Type, Nebraska, 1960 – 2009
[Trillion British Thermal Units (Btu)]
Year Biofuels Biomass Geothermal Hydroelectric
Power		 Photovoltaic
and
Solar Thermal		 Wind Total
Renewable
Energy
Consumption		 Total
Primary
Energy
Consumption		 Renewable
Energy
Percent
1960 0.00 3.11 0.00 10.32 0.00 0.00 13.42 310.34 4.33%
1961 0.00 2.95 0.00 9.88 0.00 0.00 12.83 314.42 4.08%
1962 0.00 2.67 0.00 10.30 0.00 0.00 12.97 327.31 3.96%
1963 0.00 2.57 0.00 10.63 0.00 0.00 13.20 336.20 3.93%
1964 0.00 2.31 0.00 10.49 0.00 0.00 12.80 345.79 3.70%
1965 0.00 1.90 0.00 11.66 0.00 0.00 13.56 340.17 3.99%
1966 0.00 1.85 0.00 12.11 0.00 0.00 13.96 381.59 3.66%
1967 0.00 1.74 0.00 12.14 0.00 0.00 13.88 378.96 3.66%
1968 0.00 1.67 0.00 13.04 0.00 0.00 14.71 412.66 3.57%
1969 0.00 1.60 0.00 12.93 0.00 0.00 14.53 433.93 3.35%
1970 0.00 1.57 0.00 14.38 0.00 0.00 15.95 461.83 3.45%
1971 0.00 1.60 0.00 14.24 0.00 0.00 15.84 462.91 3.42%
1972 0.00 2.58 0.00 14.24 0.00 0.00 16.82 487.92 3.45%
1973 0.00 2.67 0.00 14.24 0.00 0.00 16.91 505.03 3.35%
1974 0.00 2.65 0.00 13.51 0.00 0.00 16.16 526.66 3.07%
1975 0.00 2.77 0.00 12.62 0.00 0.00 15.40 539.06 2.86%
1976 0.00 3.14 0.00 13.24 0.00 0.00 16.38 561.36 2.92%
1977 0.00 3.40 0.00 12.74 0.00 0.00 16.14 575.28 2.80%
1978 0.00 3.79 0.00 12.30 0.00 0.00 16.10 569.33 2.83%
1979 0.00 3.93 0.00 12.90 0.00 0.00 16.83 582.34 2.89%
1980 0.00 5.90 0.00 13.88 0.00 0.00 19.78 525.87 3.76%
1981 0.30 5.30 0.00 12.51 0.00 0.00 18.11 492.57 3.68%
1982 0.74 6.33 0.00 12.67 0.00 0.00 19.74 533.71 3.70%
1983 1.48 5.88 0.00 14.16 0.00 0.00 21.52 513.20 4.19%
1984 1.62 7.20 0.00 14.04 0.00 0.00 22.85 526.66 4.34%
1985 2.16 7.42 0.00 15.05 0.00 0.00 24.63 494.46 4.98%
1986 2.34 6.77 0.00 17.53 0.00 0.00 26.65 512.17 5.20%
1987 2.83 5.68 0.00 16.33 0.00 0.00 24.83 538.07 4.61%
1988 2.96 6.06 0.00 13.94 0.00 0.00 22.97 569.48 4.03%
1989 3.52 6.40 0.06 12.08 0.01 0.00 22.07 563.01 3.92%
1990 3.30 4.46 0.08 11.86 0.01 0.00 19.71 554.30 3.56%
1991 3.75 4.67 0.10 10.90 0.01 0.00 19.44 568.25 3.42%
1992 4.92 4.97 0.12 11.12 0.01 0.00 21.14 560.17 3.77%
1993 6.11 4.27 0.15 10.33 0.01 0.00 20.86 580.43 3.59%
1994 6.91 4.10 0.16 13.53 0.02 0.00 24.72 582.43 4.24%
1995 14.31 4.18 0.18 14.71 0.02 0.00 33.38 635.13 5.26%
1996 13.84 7.77 0.22 16.56 0.02 0.00 38.42 682.47 5.63%
1997 18.27 6.32 0.25 17.08 0.02 0.00 41.93 695.19 6.03%
1998 19.38 5.80 0.31 17.16 0.02 0.00 42.67 708.88 6.02%
1999 20.76 6.00 0.32 17.58 0.02 0.00 44.68 716.01 6.24%
2000 22.38 5.73 0.32 15.31 0.01 0.00 43.76 689.66 6.34%
2001 23.73 7.65 0.35 11.62 0.01 0.03 43.39 702.02 6.18%
2002 24.31 8.24 0.38 11.16 0.01 0.08 44.19 712.61 6.20%
2003 26.16 8.63 0.51 10.04 0.01 0.39 45.74 704.03 6.50%
2004 33.64 8.58 0.57 9.15 0.01 0.39 52.33 734.19 7.13%
2005 33.50 8.04 0.67 8.71 0.02 0.97 51.90 723.11 7.18%
2006 36.68 6.42 0.73 8.86 0.02 2.59 55.31 739.20 7.48%
2007 50.86 7.18 0.79 3.43 0.03 2.14 64.45 783.09 8.23%
2008 72.03 7.27 0.88 3.41 0.04 2.11 85.73 814.63 10.52%
2009 70.98 7.51 1.02 4.23 0.04 3.73 87.51 810.98 10.79%

Sources:  State Energy Data Report.  Energy Information Administration, Washington, DC.  Nebraska Energy Office, Lincoln, NE.

Note:  Consumption is listed in Btu to enable totaling all the categories of energy.

This table was updated on January 20, 2012.  Typically, there are one to two years between updates.

Energy Statistics Home  |  Renewable Fuels Home  |  Contact Us  |  Conversion Chart  |  Glossary