In a report just released by the Energy Information Administration (the official energy statistics gather of the US government), renewable energy accounted for 11.1% of the Nation’s electric power year-to-date as of April 2009.

I had no idea renewables contributed that much power to the grid! The renewable total is made up of 7% conventional hydroelectric and other green energy (biomass, geothermal, solar, wind, etc.) generated the remaining 4.1%.

Another interesting fact from the report is that year-to-date, total generation is down 5% from 2008. This was the ninth consecutive month that net generation was down. Many argue this is due to the economy, but others think it is due to conservation efforts and energy efficiency. What do you think?

Coal-fired generation was also down 13.9% from April 2008 to April 2009. As renewables and other non-CO2 emitting alternatives such as Nuclear continue to increase, I hope that coal-fired number will drop faster and further.

It's exciting to see renewable energy continue to grow. Hopefully the upward trend will continue.

To see the full report, click here.