The total of 7,815 trillion Btu of renewable energy consumed last year was due to 3980 t-Btu from biomass (wood, waste, biofuel), 2682 from hydropower, 697 from wind, 366 from geothermal and 91 t-Btu from solar PV, according to the Monthly Energy Review which includes year-end data for 2009.

The report on energy and renewable energy consumption is published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the US Department of Energy (DoE).

In 1973, total consumption of renewable energy was 4,433 t-Btu, 6206 by 1990, 6260 by 2000, and 6406 t-Btu by 2005, the report notes. Production equals consumption for all renewable energy sources except biofuels.

Production of all renewable energy last year was 7833 t-Btu, up from 7425 in 2008. Geothermal includes both electricity net generation and geothermal heat pump for space conditioning, and solar PV includes both electric and thermal energy.

The monthly review presents the Government’s official energy statistics which include total energy production, consumption and trade; energy prices; overviews of petroleum, natural gas, coal, electricity, nuclear energy, renewables and international petroleum; and carbon dioxide emissions.

The 7815 t-Btu consumed from renewable energy last year is 8.2% of the country’s total primary energy consumption of 94,892, which includes 8328 from nuclear and 78,631 from all fossil fuel sources. The US imports 29,744 t-Btu of energy each year.