page_title: Energy in the United States
hierarchical_section_title: Energy in the United States
caption_attribution_description: Pumping rig at the Sergeant Major well on the Evanson family farm in McKenzie County, North Dakota, east of Arnegard and west of Watford City. There are few pipelines in McKenzie County, and almost none of the them oil pipelines. Nearly all oil is trucked out, and semi trucks clog the local highways. Oil generally is trucked out only in good weather (most roads are dirt), so rainy or winter months there is little oil moving. In good weather, trucks run about 20 hours a day, and drivers do nothing but take empty trucks out, collect oil, take full trucks to the local processing plant, unload, and repeat. Natural gas is plentiful, and there is no way to get it out. So most of it is flared (burned) off.
context_page_description: Energy in the United States comes mostly from fossil fuels: in 2010, data showed that 25% of the nation's energy originates from petroleum, 22% from coal, and 22% from natural gas.
  Nuclear energy supplied 8.4% and renewable energy supplied 8%, mainly from hydroelectric dams and biomass; however, this also includes other renewable sources like wind, geothermal, and solar.
  The United States was the second-largest energy consumer in 2010 after China. The country is ranked seventh in energy consumption per capita after Canada and several small nations. As of 2006, the country's energy consumption had increased more rapidly than domestic energy production over the last 50 years in the nation. This difference was largely met through imports. Not included is the significant amount of energy used overseas in the production of retail and industrial goods consumed in the United States.
  According to the Energy Information Administration's statistics, the per-capita energy consumption in the US has been somewhat consistent from the 1970s to the present time. The average was about 334 million British thermal units [BTU] per person from 1980 to 2010.
context_section_description: Energy in the United States comes mostly from fossil fuels: in 2010, data showed that 25% of the nation's energy originates from petroleum, 22% from coal, and 22% from natural gas. 
  Nuclear energy supplied 8.4% and renewable energy supplied 8%, mainly from hydroelectric dams and biomass; however, this also includes other renewable sources like wind, geothermal, and solar. 
  The United States was the second-largest energy consumer in 2010 after China. The country is ranked seventh in energy consumption per capita after Canada and several small nations. As of 2006, the country's energy consumption had increased more rapidly than domestic energy production over the last 50 years in the nation (when they were roughly equal). This difference was largely met through imports. Not included is the significant amount of energy used overseas in the production of retail and industrial goods consumed in the United States.
  According to the Energy Information Administration's statistics, the per-capita energy consumption in the US has been somewhat consistent from the 1970s to the present time. The average was about 334 million British thermal units [BTU] (352 GJ) per person from 1980 to 2010. One explanation suggested that the energy required to increase the nation's consumption of manufactured equipment, cars, and other goods has been shifted to other countries producing and transporting those goods to the US with a corresponding shift of green house gases and pollution. In comparison, the world average increased from 63.7 to 75 million BTU (67.2 to 79.1 GJ) per person between 1980 and 2008.
caption: Pumping rig at the Sergeant Major well in McKenzie County, North Dakota
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