Rush hour traffic on FDR Drive in Manhattan, New York, the United States. (File photo: Xinhua)
HOUSTON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Fossil fuels continued to account for the largest share of energy consumption last year in the United States, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday.
According to EIA, in 2018, about 79 percent of domestic energy production was from fossil fuels, and 80 percent of domestic energy consumption originated from fossil fuels.
The share of US total energy production from fossil fuels peaked in 1966 at 93 percent. Total fossil fuel production has continued to rise, but so have non-fossil fuel sources, mainly renewables like wind and solar energy. As a result, fossil fuels have accounted for close to 80 percent of US energy production over the past decade.
Since 2008, production of crude oil, dry natural gas, and natural gas plant liquids (NGPL) has increased, but these increases have more than offset decreasing coal production, which has fallen from its peak in 2008.
Petroleum has the largest share of US energy trade, accounting for 67 percent of energy exports and 86 percent of energy imports in 2018. Much of the imported crude oil went to US refineries and was then exported as petroleum products. Petroleum products accounted for 71 percent of total US energy exports in 2018.
In 2018, net energy imports reached the lowest level since 1963. US net energy imports as a share of consumption peaked in 2005 when it reached 30 percent. In 2018, energy net imports fell to only 4 percent of consumption.
