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When it comes to determining the best state for green energy, Texas looks awfully good. By green, we’re talking about energy that comes from nonpolluting sources: solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal.
The top five states produce more than 46 percent of the country’s green energy. Following are the top 10 states, how much green energy they produce, and the percentage of the nation’s green energy generated:
| State | Green energy (in thousand megawatt hours) | % of U.S. green energy | State | Green energy (in thousand megawatt hours) | % of U.S. green energy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Texas | 5,927,344 | 12.7 | 6. Oklahoma | 2,164,708 | 4.6 |
| 2. California | 5,523,508 | 11.9 | 7. Iowa | 1,867,997 | 4.0 |
| 3. Washington | 4,823,909 | 10.4 | 8. Kansas | 1,406,405 | 3.0 |
| 4. New York | 2,846,610 | 6.2 | 9. Illinois | 1,165,729 | 2.5 |
| 5. Oregon | 2,338,466 | 5.1 | 10. No. Dakota | 1,149,385 | 2.5 |
Notice that we ranked green energy generation – and not renewable energy production. They’re not the same thing. Renewable energy includes wood and biomass. Producing energy from those requires combustion, which releases carbon dioxide. As for nuclear, it doesn’t emit carbon dioxide, but nuclear plants create a significant amount of radioactive waste. To us, that doesn’t suggest green energy.
Digging deeper into top 10 green energy production
- Texas: Ranks first in wind energy, generating nearly three times as much as the next state. And it’s fifth in solar energy generation. But it comes in 25th in hydroelectric and produces no geothermal power.
- California: First in solar and geothermal energy and fourth in hydroelectric. It also is a respectable seventh in harvesting wind energy.
- Washington: As you might expect, the state is first in hydroelectric power by a wide margin. It’s 10th in wind generation but only 45th in solar, and, similar to 33 other states, produces no significant geothermal generation.
- New York: The first real surprise on the list. The state is second in hydroelectric production and a respectable 19th in solar and 17th in wind. It also gets nothing from geothermal sources.
- Oregon: It uses all four methods of generation. The state is third in hydroelectric generation and fifth in geothermal. It is 15th in wind and 16th in solar.
The rest of the top 10 depends almost completely on wind generation. Oklahoma is second, Iowa, third; Kansas, fourth; Illinois, fifth; and North Dakota sixth in power from wind.
| State | Green energy (in thousand megawatt hours) | % of U.S. green energy | State | Green energy (in thousand megawatt hours) | % of U.S. green energy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Delaware | 5,643 | 0.0 | 6. Hawaii | 93,487 | 0.2 |
| 2. Rhode Island | 18,677 | 0.0 | 7. Alaska | 97,228 | 0.2 |
| 3. Mississippi | 28,645 | 0.1 | 8. New Jersey | 112,836 | 0.2 |
| 4. Connecticut | 45,301 | 0.1 | 9. Vermont | 161,475 | 0.3 |
| 5. Louisiana | 79,862 | 0.2 | 10. New Hampshire | 169,851 | 0.5 |
But wait! There’s another way to rank the best green energy states
| State | % of energy from green sources | State | % of energy from green sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | 87.4 | Maine | 48.5 |
| Vermont | 81.0 | Oklahoma | 37.4 |
| Idaho | 80.6 | North Dakota | 35.8 |
| Washington | 64.9 | Iowa | 35.3 |
| Oregon | 57.4 | Kansas | 33.9 |
So where is Texas using this metric? It comes in 21st, with 15.8 percent of the power it produces coming from green sources. Mississippi is last, with only 0.6 percent of its energy coming from green methods. The national average is 14.3 percent.
(Image courtesy of Pixabay)