WASHINGTON - The use of renewable energy in the United States increased nearly 7 percent in 2006, according to preliminary statistics released by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The new report finds wind power to be the fastest growing renewable energy technology, growing by 45 percent in 2006, followed by biofuels, which grew by 27.6 percent. In 2006, ethanol provided 4 percent of the volume of finished gasoline produced in the United States while consuming 14 percent of the nation’s corn crop. Hydropower production also increased by 6.9 percent in 2006, reaching its highest level since 2003, but it remained below the high-water years of the late 1990s.

Publication date:09/10/2007