Primary energy consumption by source in the U.S. 2022-2023

Petroleum is the primary source of energy in the United States, with a consumption of 35.43 quadrillion British thermal units in 2023. Closely following, the U.S. had 33.61 quadrillion British thermal units of energy derived from natural gas. 

Energy consumption by source

Petroleum is the main source of energy in the United States. The liquid is predominantly utilized as a fuel in the transportation sector, which is also the second-largest consumer of energy in the U.S., with a proportion of over 27 percent of the country’s total energy consumption in 2022. This figure is topped only by the energy-guzzling industrial sector, a major consumer of fossil fuels such as petroleum and natural gas. 

Despite the prevalence of fossil fuels in the U.S. energy mix, the use of renewable energy sources has grown immensely in the last decades to approximately 11 exajoules in 2023. Most of the renewable energy produced in the United States is derived from biomass, hydro and wind sources. More often than not, renewable energy is converted into electricity. In 2022, renewable electricity accounted for approximately 22.5 percent of the nation’s total electricity generation. In the long run, it is projected that renewable power will replace petroleum as the main fuel in motor vehicles, once the internal combustion motor - that revolutionized the world in the early 19th century - has been marginalized by alternative propulsion technologies.