Quick Facts

New Hampshire Energy*:

  • Of all the states New Hampshire has the seventh highest Average Retail Price of Electricity to the Residential Sector at 19.47 cents/kWh as of August 2019.
  • More than two-fifths of all New Hampshire households rely on fuel oil as their primary heating fuel, the second-largest share, after Maine, among the states.
  • In 2016 and 2017, New Hampshire obtained more of its electricity generation from wind power than from coal-fired power plants for the first time. Coal generation exceeded wind generation in 2018.
  • Seabrook, the largest nuclear power reactor in New England, provided 57% of New Hampshire’s 2018 electricity net generation.
  • In 2018, 21% of New Hampshire’s electricity generation came from renewable resources, mostly hydroelectric power and biomass.
  • Ultra-low sulfur heating oil, which contains sulfur levels of less than 15 parts per million, has been required in New Hampshire since 2018.
  • Wind and solar power are now cheaper  than coal for electrical production.

* See: New Hampshire State Energy Profile. 

Jobs: 

  • Between 2010 and 2017, solar employment more than doubled, from just over 93,000 jobs to 250,000 jobs.
  • Solar energy industry employment growth over the past five years outpaced the nation’s overall economic growth by nine times.
  • Approximately half of these solar jobs were in installation with an average hourly salary of $21
  • Nearly 80 percent of jobs identified do not require a bachelor’s degree and veterans are employed in the industry at a rate higher than the national average.
  •  Jobs Information Source: National Conference of State Legislatures. 

USA: 

  • Fossil fuels continue to account for the largest share of energy consumption in the United States. In 2018, about 79% of domestic energy production was from fossil fuels, and 80% of domestic energy consumption originated from fossil fuels.
  • Since 2008, production of crude oil, dry natural gas, and natural gas plant liquids (NGPL) has increased by 12 quadrillion British thermal units (quads), 11 quads, and 3 quads, respectively. These increases have more than offset decreasing coal production, which has fallen 9 quads since its peak in 2008.
  • The share of U.S. total energy consumption that originated from fossil fuels has fallen from its peak of 94% in 1966 to 80% in 2018. The total amount of fossil fuels consumed in the United States has also fallen from its peak of 86 quads in 2007. Since then, coal consumption decreased by 10 quads and petroleum by 2 quads, more than offsetting a 7 quad increase in natural gas consumption.
  • In 2018, about 64% of utility-scale electricity generation was from fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, petroleum, and other gases). About 19% was from nuclear energy, and about 17% was from renewable energy sources. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that less than one percent of the USA’s electricity generation was from small-scale solar photovoltaic systems in 2018.2

Global: 

  • 43% of Denmark’s electricity consumption comes from WIND power. (Wikipedia)
  • The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen from about 270 parts per million before the Industrial Revolution to more than 400 parts today.
  • Sea level has risen by eight inches since 1870, and the rate of the rise appears to be accelerating.

Efficiency: 

  • Electricity is the clearest example of how end use energy and primary energy differ. Primary energy is the energy that goes in to electricity production, while end use energy is the amount of electricity that we use. These are two very different numbers. A typical power plant runs at about 33% efficiency. This means that power plants consume three times as much energy in fuel (like coal) as the amount of energy produced as electricity.