New York State's Energy Profile

The U.S. Energy Information Administration provides a pretty interesting assessment of New York State's Energy Profile. Among the main findings:

• In 2010, New York was the eighth largest energy consumer in the United States, but it had the second lowest energy consumption per capita after Rhode Island, due in part to NY's widely used mass transportation systems.
• The Marcellus shale, which underlies southwestern New York, is estimated to hold at least 141 trillion cubic feet in technically recoverable natural gas.
• The 2,353-megawatt Robert Moses Niagara hydroelectric power plant was the fourth largest hydroelectric power plant in the United States in 2010 and, in 2011, New York produced more hydroelectric power than any other State east of the Rocky Mountains.
• New York's Renewable Portfolio Standard requires that 30 percent of electricity come from renewable energy resources by 2015; in 2011, 24 percent of electricity came from renewable energy resources.
• In 2011, New York had the fourth highest average electricity prices in the United States.
• More than half of New York households (53 percent) use individual window or wall air conditioning units, while only 20 percent have a central air conditioning system, according to EIA's Residential Energy Consumption Survey.  

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National Renewable Energy Laboratories: Mapping Potenial Resources

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has some very interesting maps on their website showing various renewable energy related resources around the country. Included in these are maps showing the potential wind energy maps, existing and planned geothermal energy sites, and biomass resource maps, this last one being available by county. There are a ton of other maps at their site as well.

While I would encourage you to visit their website and look at some of the other maps they have (for example the wind energy potential and thermal energy maps are impressive), here is the map for biomass resources by county. The map estimates the biomass resources currently available in each county and includes the following energy resource categories: crop residues (5 year average: 2003-2007) forest and primary mill residues (2007), secondary mill and urban wood waste (2002), methane emissions from landfills (2008), domestic wastewater treatment (2007), and animal manure (2002).

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