Friday, December 3, 2010

State power mixes

I spent most of today finding and putting together raw data on state-by-state breakdowns of electricity generation mix. I can now report:

Coal:
There are 15 states for which coal makes up 60% or more of electricity generation: Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Wyoming.

Of these, there are 8 states that derive more than 80% of their power from coal: Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Would this list be a better predictor of voting than coal production was?

Oil:
There is 1 state that derives more than 60% of its power from oil: Hawaii (75%). There are no other states that derive more than 20% of their power from oil (even Alaska derives only 17% - its biggest single power source is natural gas).

Natural Gas:
There are 2 states that derive more than 60% of their power from natural gas: Nevada (69%) and Rhode Island (98%).

Nuclear:
There is 1 state that derives more than 60% of its power from nuclear: Vermont (74%). Interestingly, there were an additional 7 states for whom nuclear makes up the single largest fraction of their power from nuclear: Connecticut, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, and Virginia (though in several cases that meant only 30-40%).

Hydroelectric:
There are 2 states that derive more than 60% of their power from hydroelectric: Idaho (80%) and Washington (70%).

Non-Emitting/Renewable:
There are 11 states that derive more than 50% of their power from non-emitting sources (nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, solar, and geothermal): Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, and Washington. Of these, only 4 derive more than 60% of their power from non-emitting sources: Idaho, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

If you eliminate nuclear, the 11 drops to 3: Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. If you keep nuclear and add in emitting but renewable sources such as wood and biomass, you gain Maine.

Wind and Solar:
The top users of wind power currently are Iowa (14%), Minnesota (10%), North Dakota (9%), Colorado (6%) Kansas (6%), Oregon (6%), South Dakota (5%), Texas (5%), and Wyoming (5%). Go plains states.

The top users of solar power currently are Nevada (0.46%) and California (0.32%). That includes both photovoltaics and solar thermal. Ouch.

Miscellaneous:
New York is the most diversified state, the only state that derives at least 10% of its power from four different sources.

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