California was the largest net electricity importer of any state in 2019

Electricity routinely flows between the Lower 48 states and, to a lesser extent, between the United States and Canada and Mexico. Electricity generation exceeds electricity consumption in 25 states, and excess electricity is transmitted across state lines—almost 10% of U.S. electricity generation is traded among states. In 2019, California's net electricity imports were the largest in the country at 70.8 million megawatthours (MWh), or 25% of the state's total electricity supply. Pennsylvania's electricity exports were the largest of any state in 2019, at 70.5 million MWh, or 24% of total supply. More »

Natural gas-fired generation has increased in most U.S. regions since 2015

Natural gas-fired generation has generally increased in most U.S. regions since 2015, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Power Plant Operations Report. Annual electricity generation from natural gas power plants in the United States increased by 31% in the Northeast region, by 20% in the Central region, and by 17% in the South region between 2015 and 2019. In the West region of the continental United States, electric power generation from natural gas power plants remained relatively flat during the same period. More »

Commercial buildings have gotten larger in the United States, with implications for energy

Commercial buildings have gotten larger in the United States as their floorspace continues to grow faster than the number of commercial buildings, according to preliminary results from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) 2018 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). CBECS estimates that 5.9 million U.S. commercial buildings contained a total of 97 billion square feet as of 2018. The number of commercial buildings increased by 6%, and commercial square footage increased by 11% since the CBECS was last conducted in 2012. More »

The capacity of U.S. coal mines has fallen 28% since its 2009 peak

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) latest Annual Coal Report (ACR) shows that U.S. coal mining productive capacity, or the maximum amount of coal that mines can produce in a year, totaled 1,009 million short tons (MMst) in 2019. This amount represents a 28% decrease from the peak productive coal mine capacity of 1,407 MMst reported in 2009. U.S. coal production declined by 35% during the same period because many coal mines closed and the remaining mines produced less coal. More »

The United States briefly returned to net importer status for petroleum earlier this year

The United States imported more crude oil and petroleum products than it exported in May and June of this year, briefly reversing the country's 15-year-long trend toward becoming a net petroleum exporter. After being a net petroleum exporter for seven consecutive months from October 2019 through April 2020, the United States became a net importer, and U.S. net petroleum imports averaged 939,000 barrels per day (b/d) in May and 675,000 b/d in June. On an annual basis, U.S. net imports of petroleum have fallen from a high of 12.5 million b/d in 2005 to 0.7 million b/d in 2019. More »

U.S. distillate inventories have fallen back within the five-year range

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Weekly Petroleum Status Report, for the week ending November 13, 2020, U.S. distillate inventories fell to 143 million barrels, back within its previous five-year (2015-19) range for the first time since May 8. U.S. distillate inventories reached 180 million barrels in late July, only 3% less than in December 1982, the largest U.S. inventory in EIA's data, which go back to 1982. More »