Energy facts

Surprising energy facts

Sourced, often-surprising facts about how the world makes and uses energy — the kind that change how you see the grid.

Title	Code
Energy Fact – Cost of LED lighting dropped 15-times as volumes increased	g213
Energy Fact – By 2040 solar will be the cheapest way to generate electricity	g211
Energy Fact – The cost of solar dropped 86% from 2010 to 2020	g210
Energy Fact – US weather-related outages between 2000 and 2020	g206
Energy Fact – Residential solar installations create the most jobs per megawatt	g207
Energy Fact – Soft costs are the largest part of small US solar installations	g133
Energy Fact – Hurricane Maria created the largest blackout in US history	g131
Energy Fact – The 2021 Texas power outage was due mainly to natural gas	g205
Energy Fact – The cost of batteries decline as manufacturing capacities increase	g202
Energy Fact – Solar PV costs decline as manufacturing expands	g201
Energy Fact – The cost of batteries is 8-times lower than 2010	g128
Energy Fact – The cost of solar, wind, and battery is rapidly declining	g127
Energy Fact – The government is very bad at forecasting solar capacity	g126
Energy Fact – Component costs have made the grid more expensive than local energy	g125
Energy Fact – Comparing Renewable Growth vs Electricity Prices	g124
Energy Fact – Clean Energy Costs Over Time	g123
Energy Fact – US energy tax subsidies	g122
Energy Fact – The Five Orders model of energy tech innovation	g117
Energy Fact – We only have a century of fossil and nuclear fuel reserves	g120
Energy Fact – Renewable Energy Is The Biggest Opportunity In History	g118
Energy Fact – Grid Electricity Will Become More Expensive	g115
Energy Fact – Commercial solar is now cheaper than the grid	g121
Energy Fact – Declining local energy costs changes why people adopt it	g119
Energy Fact – The cost of solar cells has dropped 400-times	g116
Energy Fact – Building a residential rooftop solar project is cheaper than grid electricity	g114
Energy Fact – Building a commercial-scale solar project is cheaper than buying from the grid	g112
Energy Fact – The costs for all types of solar projects are declining rapidly	g113
Energy Fact – Solar panels are far less toxic than waste from coal and nuclear plants	g111
Energy Fact – Solar is about to become the cheapest source of electricity	g110
Energy Fact – It is cheaper to build new solar and wind than using fully paid-for coal plants	g109
Energy Fact – Solar, wind, and nat gas are, by far, the cheapest ways to generate electricity	g108
Energy Fact – Solar and wind use 250 times less water than coal and nuclear plants	g107
Energy Fact – Retired solar plants have similar amounts of waste to coal and natural gas	g106
Energy Fact – Comparing CO2, SO2, NOx, and methane across coal, natural gas and biomass	g105
Energy Fact – Comparing land use of solar, wind, coal, nuclear, hydro and biomass	g104
Energy Fact – Fossil fuels and power lines kill more birds than wind turbines	g103
Energy Fact – US per capita electricity consumption is declining	g101
Energy Fact – Solar creates more jobs than all fossil fuels together	g100