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AMERICAN PUBLiC w I��TM ASSOCIATION Powering Strong Communities FACT SHEET January 2017 Electricity Generation Summary Electricity Net Generation, The 114th Congress was very active on energy issues.Various Total(All Sectors)by Source,2015 pieces of legislation were introduced that sought to address the many Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) regulations Non Hydro Other Renewables 0.3% impacting electric power generation.In addition,comprehensive 7.3% energy legislation that passed in the House and Senate,included Hydro 6.0/0 provisions on a variety of issues impacting electric generation, such as energy efficiency(which is intended to help offset the Oily 0.7/0 need to generate from power plants),streamlining of hydro- power regulations,wholesale electricity markets,distributed Coal generation,and natural gas pipeline permitting reform,among 33.1% others.The consideration of energy policy will likely continue in Nuclear the 115th Congress given the importance of these issues to the 19'5% Nation. Gas 33.1% Background Electricity is created from the conversion of a fuel or other source of energy into electrons.This process occurs on a large scale in an electricity generating plant,and on a smaller scale through distributed energy resources.Electricity must be gener- In terms of total U.S.power generation,according to the ated at the instant it is used,requiring forms of generation that most recent data released by the Energy Information Admin- must be available at all times in order to"keep the lights on." istration(EIA),in 2015,coal produced 1.352 billion mega- The primary electricity generating technologies used in the watt-hours of electricity,natural gas produced 1.349 billion United States are coal,natural gas,nuclear,and hydropower. megawatt-hours,nuclear produced 797.1 million mega- A small but growing portion of the generation portfolio comes watt-hours,hydro produced 244.0 million megawatt-hours, from non-hydropower renewable sources of energy,such as non-hydro renewables produced 295.1 million megawatt-hours, solar,wind,landfill methane gas,and geothermal power from oil provided 28.3 million megawatt-hours,and other sources underground formations.However,many of these resources produced 14.027 million megawatt-hours.This data can also be are not available 24 hours a day,seven days a week,and may seen in percentages in the chart on page one. be more expensive to construct and/or operate than traditional In terms of total generation produced by public power sources of electricity.Most of these energy sources are used to utilities(not-for-profit,publicly owned,and serving 49 million power turbines that generate electric energy. retail customers),according to the most recent data released Each of the various generating technologies used to produce by the EIA,in 2015,public power entities produced 148.62 electricity has its advantages and disadvantages,which is why million megawatt-hours of electricity from coal,90.96 mil- having a diversified portfolio of fuels—particularly generation lion megawatt-hours from natural gas,64.76 million mega- sources that can be relied on most of the time—is a priority for watt-hours from nuclear,66.76 million megawatt-hours from electric utilities. hydro,7.9 million megawatt hours from non-hydro renewables, PublicPower.org 19 201