2. Renewable Energy
• Includes the wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower,
biomass, and biofuels industries
• Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) predicts
that nearly $700 billion will be invested in the U.S.
renewable energy sector during the next 2 decades
• Today, the United States produces more
geothermal energy than any other country (3,187
Megawatts); more biomass power than any other
country (13,700 MW); has the second largest wind
industry (46,990 MW); the third largest
hydropower industry (96,000 MW); and the fifth
largest solar industry (5,700 MW) (Select USA).
3. Oil and Gas
• US is undergoing a revolution in oil and natural gas
production from shale
• U.S. companies have developed techniques for
extracting hydrocarbons from shale, altering the
U.S. oil and gas sector and the domestic energy
landscape
• In addition to shale, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and
Alaska are once again the focus for new investment
(Select USA).
• See page entitled “U.S. Oil Policy” for more detail
4. Coal
• The United States holds the world’s largest estimated
recoverable reserves of coal and is a net exporter of coal
• Approximately 72 percent of coal production originated in
five states: Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky,
Pennsylvania, and Texas
• Coal is used to generate 40 percent of the electricity in the
United States
• Also used for industrial applications such as cement
making, and conversion to coke for the smelting of iron ore
at blast furnaces to make steel
• The United States is also developing carbon capture and
sequestration technologies with the goal of capturing 90
percent of CO2 emissions from coal (Select USA).
5. Nuclear Energy
• The United States operates the most nuclear reactors,
has the largest installed nuclear power capacity, and
generates the most nuclear power in the world
• Nearly 20 percent of U.S. electricity is produced at 104
nuclear reactors in 31 states
• By 2015, the first of 26 new nuclear reactors are
expected to come on line
• The international civil nuclear marketplace is estimated
at more than $500-740 billion during the next decade
and has the potential to generate more than $100
billion in U.S. exports and thousands of new skilled and
unskilled jobs (Select USA).
