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https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/natural-gas/

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What is natural gas?

Natural gas is a fossil fuel energy source. Natural gas contains many different compounds. The largest component of natural gas is methane, a compound with one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms (CH ₄). Natural gas also contains smaller amounts of natural gas liquids (NGLs, which are also hydrocarbon gas liquids), and nonhydrocarbon gases, such as carbon dioxide and water vapor. We use natural gas as a fuel and to make materials and chemicals.

How did natural gas form?

Millions to hundreds of millions of years ago, the remains of plants and animals (such as diatoms) built up in thick layers on the earth's surface and ocean floors, sometimes mixed with sand, silt, and calcium carbonate. Over time, these layers were buried under sand, silt, and rock. Pressure and heat changed some of this carbon and hydrogen-rich material into coal, some into oil (petroleum), and some into natural gas.

Where is natural gas found?

In some places, natural gas moved into large cracks and spaces between layers of overlying rock. The natural gas found in these types of formations is sometimes called conventional natural gas. In other places, natural gas occurs in the tiny pores (spaces) within some formations of shale, sandstone, and other types of sedimentary rock. This natural gas is referred to as shale gas or tight gas, and it is sometimes called unconventional natural gas. Natural gas also occurs with deposits of crude oil, and this natural gas is called associated natural gas. Natural gas deposits are found on land, and some are offshore and deep under the ocean floor. Natural gas found in coal deposits is called coalbed methane.
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How do we find natural gas?

The search for natural gas begins with geologists who study the structure and processes of the earth. They locate the types of geologic formations that are likely to contain natural gas deposits.

Geologists often use seismic surveys on land and in the ocean to find the right places to drill natural gas and oil wells. Seismic surveys create and measure seismic waves in the earth to get information on the geology of rock formations. Seismic surveys on land may use a thumper truck, which has a vibrating pad that pounds the ground to create seismic waves in the underlying rock. Sometimes, small amounts of explosives are used. Seismic surveys conducted in the ocean use blasts of sound that create sonic waves to explore the geology beneath the ocean floor.

If the results of seismic surveys indicate that a site has potential for producing natural gas, an exploratory well is drilled and tested. The results of the test provide information on the quality and quantity of natural gas available in the resource.

What happens when natural gas is found?

If the results from a test well show that a geologic formation has enough natural gas to make a profit, one or more production (or development) wells are drilled. Natural gas wells can be drilled vertically and horizontally into natural gas-bearing formations. In conventional natural gas deposits, the natural gas generally flows easily up through wells to the surface.

In the United States and in a few other countries, natural gas is produced from shale and other types of sedimentary rock formations by forcing water, chemicals, and sand down a well under high pressure. This process, called hydraulic fracturing or fracking (sometimes referred to as unconventional production), breaks up the formation, releases the natural gas from the rock, and allows the natural gas to flow to and up wells to the surface. At the top of the well, natural gas is collected in gathering pipelines and sent to natural gas processing plants.

Natural gas is processed for sale and consumption

Natural gas withdrawn from natural gas or crude oil wells is called wet natural gas because, along with methane, it usually contains NGLs-ethane, propane, butanes, and pentanes-and water vapor. Wellhead natural gas may also contain nonhydrocarbons such as sulfur, helium, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide, most of which must be removed from natural gas before it is sold to consumers.

From the wellhead, natural gas is sent to processing plants where water vapor and nonhydrocarbon compounds are removed and NGLs are separated from the wet gas and sold separately. Some ethane is often left in the processed natural gas. The separated NGLs are called natural gas plant liquids (NGPLs), and the processed natural gas is called dry, consumer-grade, or pipeline-quality natural gas. Some wellhead natural gas is sufficiently dry and satisfies pipeline transportation standards without processing. Chemicals called odorants are added to natural gas so that leaks in natural gas pipelines can be detected. Dry natural gas is sent through pipelines to underground storage fields or to distribution companies and then to consumers.

In places where natural gas pipelines are not available to take away the associated natural gas produced from oil wells, the natural gas may be reinjected into the oil-bearing formation, or it may be vented or burned (flared). Reinjecting unmarketable natural gas can help to maintain pressure in oil wells to improve oil production.

Coalbed methane can be extracted from coal deposits before or during coal mining, and it can be added to natural gas pipelines without any special treatment.

Most of the natural gas consumed in the United States is produced in the United States. Some natural gas is imported from Canada and Mexico in pipelines. A small amount of natural gas is also imported as liquefied natural gas.
Last updated: December 27, 2022

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Where and how natural gas is found and produced including by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in shale and other geologic formations.

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What makes cars go? Fossil fuels! What lights up gas grills and stoves? Fossil fuels! What’s non-renewable and really bad for the environment? You know…

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Kids learn about geothermal energy and how this renewable power can help the environment. Teach students about heat pumps and electric plants.

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username: barley
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Wind is the largest source of renewable energy in the United States, providing clean electricity from land and offshore to individual homes, remote farms, small communities and large cities alike.

Wind energy is old-so old that ancient Egyptians used this bountiful, blustery resource, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, to propel their boats down the Nile River. The first wind turbines (or windmills, as they were originally called) were made from abundant materials, such as wood or reeds, which were woven into tight blades and spun to pump water for farms, grind grain, and, eventually, power entire communities.

Today's wind turbines use sleek, modern materials to generate clean, renewable energy almost anywhere in the world.

What Is Wind Energy?

To answer this question, it's best to start with another: What is wind?

Wind is born when pockets of the Earth's craggy surface get different amounts of sun and cool or heat faster than others nearby. To balance those differences, like mixing hot and cold water in a bathtub, air moves around the world-gaining or losing speed as it dips through valleys and sprints over rivers. That creates-you guessed it-wind.

Wind can be powerful enough to whisk birds through the sky, move sailboats across the ocean, and even rip trees from the ground. In comparison to all that, pushing wind turbine blades is easy! It's that movement of the turbines that creates electricity.

Want to know how much wind energy is humming across your state? Check out NREL's wind maps on WINDExchange.

How Do Wind Turbines Work?

Wind turbines, like windmills, catch the wind's energy with propeller-like blades. These blades can have a horizontal axis, like a fan, or vertical one, like a merry-go-round. The most common design is a tall tower with three large blades on a horizontal axis. But some vertical-axis wind turbines look like eggbeaters, while others look like the windmills that populated farms a century ago.

Unlike fans, which use electricity to move air, wind turbines use moving air to generate electricity. When the wind blows, its force turns the blades, which runs a generator and creates clean electricity. But some turbine designs can produce more clean energy than others. For example, because winds can be more powerful and less volatile higher in the atmosphere, placing turbines on towers 100 feet (or 30 meters) tall-about the height of the Statue of Liberty-can help them generate more electricity. Wind turbine operators can also shift their machines to face directly into the wind-a technique called yawing.

Can't picture this? Watch the U.S. Department of Energy's wind energy animation to see wind turbines in action.

How Do We Get Our Wind Energy?

There are several ways to get power from wind energy. Wind turbines can be built on land, on lakes or in the ocean, in remote wilderness far from the power grid, within cities, or across vast plains.

One wind turbine can power an individual home or farm, but several built close together form a wind energy plant, or wind farm. Wind plants can be land-based or offshore, and they can be hybrid plants (meaning, they include other sources of energy, such as solar energy). Wind energy researchers are trying to learn how many wind turbines built in which arrangements can maximize energy production in wind plants.

Today, most grid-connected wind plants are at least 1 megawatt or larger. The biggest wind farm in the United States spans 100,000 acres (enough to cover half of New York City) and can power more than 250,000 homes.

What Are the Major Applications of Wind Energy?

Wind energy has three major applications: land-based, distributed, and offshore.

Land-Based Wind Energy Is the Most Common

The majority of turbines are installed on land. And land-based wind energy is one of the lowest-cost sources of electricity generation, as highlighted by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Researchers at NREL are categorizing wind resources on land and advancing wind turbines to more efficiently generate electricity at even lower cost.

Distributed Wind Energy Powers Remote and Local Communities

Distributed wind energy is a distributed energy resource, meaning it produces a smaller-scale unit of power. In this case, it comprises one or more wind turbines, which range from a kilowatt to several megawatts in capacity.

These typically land-based turbines operate locally to provide energy for individual buildings or small communities, though they can be connected to a power grid at the distribution level. Some wind turbines can even pop up as mobile, on-demand sources of clean power in disaster or defense scenarios.

Homeowners, farmers, businesses, and industries make use of clean, distributed wind energy to pump water (to use as drinking water, to irrigate farms, and more), to lower electric bills, and to reduce air pollution.

Distributed wind turbines are improving all the time, growing stronger, less costly, more resilient, and more efficient.

Offshore Wind Energy Is Newer but Growing

Wind turbines used in offshore wind energy can be even larger than on land, with towers one-and-a-half-times the height of the Washington Monument and blades as long as a football field (as noted in to the U.S. Department of Energy's list of 10 things you may not have known about wind energy).

These behemoths depend on strong sea breezes to spin turbines that are either anchored to the seafloor (called fixed-bottom wind turbines) or installed on platforms that float (called floating wind turbines). Offshore wind turbines can provide electricity to power ocean-based research and equipment, such as unmanned robots used for marine exploration; remote or island communities disconnected from the grid; or entire cities back on land.

The offshore wind energy industry is growing. Researchers are identifying massive amounts of potential wind energy off U.S. coastlines, and the Biden administration has set a goal to install 30 gigawatts of wind energy by 2030. That will require us to grow the offshore wind energy workforce as well as the supply chain to build and infrastructure to deploy new offshore wind farms.

The U.S. Department of Energy indicates that, as of 2022, nearly 80% of the nation's electricity is used to power our coastal and Great Lakes states, where most Americans live. So, even though offshore wind energy is a relatively new industry in the United States, it could soon provide clean, renewable electricity to many U.S. communities. America's first offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Rhode Island, powered up in December 2016. Today, many more projects are in development along the U.S. East Coast that could send power back to the grid. And, with technology advancements for floating offshore wind energy, wind farms are coming to the West Coast as well.

Why Do We Need Wind Energy?

Wind energy is one of the largest sources of clean, renewable energy in the United States, making it essential to a future carbon-free energy sector. Wind turbines do not release emissions that pollute our air or water, and they can be built with minimal impact to the environment or livelihoods of nearby residents. Farmers and ranchers, for example, can lease their land to wind farms and, because the turbines take up minimal space, continue to grow crops or raise livestock while earning a steady income.

But wind energy can be even better.

The wind energy industry is working to figure out what areas of research need more attention to expand the use of wind energy. This includes understanding how wind interacts with a turbine behind (downwind from) another one, evaluating the best ways to verify new technologies, and incorporating feedback from communities living near or using wind turbines.

Researchers are studying different materials and designs that could make wind turbine blades lighter, longer, more durable, and better at creating energy. New technologies could also make wind turbines less expensive to manufacture, install, operate, and maintain, making wind energy more accessible to more people. As a bonus, some new materials and processes could make wind turbines more reusable or recyclable, which can cut down on waste, too.

Scientists are also studying ways to limit the impact wind turbines can have on wildlife. For example, sound and light could warn birds and bats to fly around wind turbines. And even though wind turbines must be installed far enough from homes that they produce noise no louder than a refrigerator's hum, researchers have discovered ways to further reduce their noise levels. Because wind turbines are a significant source of clean energy, they lower pollution to help keep the Earth (and, therefore, its birds, bats, and humans) healthy.

Additional Resources

For more information, visit NREL's Wind Energy Research site or the following resources:

Wind Energy Basics
U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Small Wind Electric Systems
U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Savers Program

Wind Energy Educational Resources
U.S. Department of Energy's WINDExchange Initiative

U.S. Department of Energy's WINDExchange Initiative.

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Learn about the history of wind energy and how wind turbines use wind energy to generate electricity.

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Kids learn about wind energy and how this renewable power can help the environment. Teach students about turbines that generate electricity from wind.

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While the first wind turbines have yet to be built off the Jersey Shore coast, state leaders are already pushing for expansion.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on Wednesday approved the construction of two more offshore wind farms, dubbed Atlantic Shores and Ocean Wind II. The projects are expected to produce 2,658 megawatts of clean power by 2029. This follows the 2019 approval the state's first offshore wind farm, Ocean Wind. That project, to be built by the Danish energy company Ørsted, will generate 1,100 megawatts of electricity when it becomes operational in 2024. Ocean Wind is currently seeking federal approval.

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N.J. approves 2 more offshore wind farms to power 1M homes

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While the first wind turbines have yet to be built off the Jersey Shore coast, state leaders are already pushing for expansion. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on Wednesday approved the construction of two more offshore wind farms, dubbed Atlantic Shores and Ocean Wind II.

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Hydropower is energy in moving water

People have a long history of using the force of water flowing in streams and rivers to produce mechanical energy. Hydropower was one of the first sources of energy used for electricity generation, and until 2019, hydropower was the leading source of total annual U.S. renewable electricity generation.

In 2022, hydroelectricity accounted for about 6.2% of total U.S. utility-scale ¹ electricity generation and 28.7% of total utility-scale renewable electricity generation. Hydroelectricity generation varies annually, and it's share of total U.S. electricity generation generally decreased from the 1950's through 2020, mainly because of increases in electricity generation from other sources. Hydroelectricity's percentage share of total annual U.S. electricity generation in 2001 through 2022 averaged about 6.7%.

Hydropower relies on the water cycle

Solar energy heats water on the surface of rivers, lakes, and oceans, which causes the water to evaporate.

Water vapor condenses into clouds and falls as precipitation-rain and snow.

Precipitation collects in streams and rivers, which empty into oceans and lakes, where it evaporates and begins the cycle again.

The amount of precipitation that drains into rivers and streams in a geographic area determines the amount of water available for producing hydropower. Seasonal variations in precipitation and long-term changes in precipitation patterns, such as droughts, can have significant effects on the availability of hydropower production.

Hydroelectric power is produced with moving water

Because the source of hydroelectric power is water, hydroelectric power plants are usually located on or near a water source. The volume of the water flow and the change in elevation-or fall, and often referred to as head -from one point to another determine the amount of available energy in moving water. In general, the greater the water flow and the higher the head, the more electricity a hydropower plant can produce.

At hydropower plants water flows through a pipe, or penstock, then pushes against and turns blades in a turbine that spin to power a generator to produce electricity.

Conventional hydroelectric facilities include:

Run-of-the-river systems, where the force of the river's current applies pressure on a turbine. The facilities may have a in the water course to divert water flow to hydro turbines.

Storage systems, where water accumulates in reservoirs created by dams on streams and rivers and is released through hydro turbines as needed to generate electricity. Most U.S. hydropower facilities have dams and storage reservoirs.

Pumped-storage hydropower facilities are a type of hydroelectric storage system where water is pumped from a water source up to a storage reservoir at a higher elevation. The water is released from the upper reservoir to power hydro turbines located below the upper reservoir. They usually pump water to storage when electricity demand and generation costs, or when wholesale electricity prices are relatively low, and release the stored water to generate electricity during peak electricity demand periods when wholesale electricity prices are relatively high. Pumped-storage hydroelectric systems generally use more electricity to pump water to the upper water storage reservoirs than they produce with the stored water. Therefore, pumped-storage facilities have net negative electricity generation balances.

Hydropower has a long history

Hydropower is one of the oldest sources of energy for producing mechanical and electrical energy, and up until 2019, it was the largest source of total annual U.S. renewable electricity generation. Thousands of years ago, people used hydropower to turn paddle wheels on rivers to grind grain. Before steam power and electricity were available in the United States, grain and lumber mills were powered directly with hydropower. The first industrial use of hydropower to generate electricity in the United States was in 1880 to power 16 brush-arc lamps at the Wolverine Chair Factory in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The first U.S. hydroelectric power plant to sell electricity opened on the Fox River near Appleton, Wisconsin, on September 30, 1882.

There are about 1,450 conventional and 40 pumped-storage hydropower plants operating in the United States. The oldest operating U.S. hydropower facility is the Whiting plant in Whiting, Wisconsin, which started operating in 1891 and has a total generation capacity of about 4 megawatts (MW). Most U.S. hydroelectricity is produced at large dams on major rivers, and most of these hydroelectric dams were built before the mid-1970s by federal government agencies. The largest U.S. hydropower facility, and the largest U.S. electric power plant in electric generation capacity, is the Grand Coulee hydro dam on the Columbia River in Washington State, with 6,765 MW total generation capacity.
Last updated: April 20, 2023, with most recent data available.

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The water cycle and its importance to understanding hydropower and how hydroelectricity is generated.

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From generating electricity to growing crops, dams have proven to be one of the most useful innovations in human history. Find out how these simple structures accomplish so much.

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Kids learn about hydropower energy and how this renewable power can help the environment. Teach students about biodiesel, ethanol, and methane gas.

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Nuclear power comes from nuclear fission

Nuclear power plants heat water to produce steam. The steam is used to spin large turbines that generate electricity. Nuclear power plants use heat produced during nuclear fission to heat water.

In nuclear fission, atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms, releasing energy. Fission takes place inside the reactor of a nuclear power plant. At the center of the reactor is the core, which contains uranium fuel.

The uranium fuel is formed into ceramic pellets. Each ceramic pellet produces about the same amount of energy as 150 gallons of oil. These energy-rich pellets are stacked end-to-end in 12-foot metal fuel rods. A bundle of fuel rods, some with hundreds of rods, is called a fuel assembly. A reactor core contains many fuel assemblies.

The heat produced during nuclear fission in the reactor core is used to boil water into steam, which turns the blades of a steam turbine. As the turbine blades turn, they drive generators that make electricity. Nuclear plants cool the steam back into water in a separate structure at the power plant called a cooling tower, or they use water from ponds, rivers, or the ocean. The cooled water is then reused to produce steam.

Containment dome of a nuclear reactor

Source: Stock photography (copyrighted)

Nuclear power plants have generated about 20% of U.S. electricity since 1990

As of July 1, 2022, 92 nuclear reactors were operating at 54 nuclear power plants in 28 states. Thirty-two of the plants have two reactors, and three plants have three reactors. Nuclear power plants have supplied about 20% of total annual U.S. electricity since 1990. Learn more about the U.S. nuclear energy industry.

The United States generates more nuclear power than any other country

In 2020, 33 countries had commercial nuclear power plants, and in 17 of the countries, nuclear energy supplied at least 20% of their total annual electricity generation. The United States had the largest nuclear electricity generation capacity and generated more nuclear electricity than any other country. France, with the second-largest nuclear electricity generation capacity and second-highest nuclear electricity generation, had the largest share-about 69%-of total annual electricity generation from nuclear energy.

Top five nuclear electric generation capacity countries, 2020
Last updated: July 12, 2022

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Nuclear power plants - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

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Nuclear power plants heat water to produce steam. The steam is used to spin large turbines that generate electricity. Nuclear power plants use heat produced during nuclear fission to heat water. In nuclear fission, atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms, releasing energy. Fission takes place inside the reactor of a nuclear power plant.

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A comprehensive suite of e-learning resources designed for all ages and abilities with articles, videos, educator tools, eBooks, research guides and more.

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Kids learn about nuclear energy and fission in the science of physics including E=mc2, power plants, uses of nuclear power, and fusion.

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Energy from the sun

The sun has produced energy for billions of years and is the ultimate source for all of the energy sources and fuels that we use. People have used the sun's rays (solar radiation) for thousands of years for warmth and to dry meat, fruit, and grains. Over time, people developed technologies to collect solar energy for heat and to convert it into electricity.

Source: NASA

Solar thermal (heat) energy

A solar oven (a box for collecting and absorbing sunlight) is an example of a simple solar energy collection device. In the 1830s, British astronomer John Herschel used a solar oven to cook food during an expedition to Africa. People now use many different technologies for collecting and converting solar radiation into useful heat energy for a variety of purposes.

Water for homes, buildings, or swimming pools

Air inside homes, greenhouses, and other buildings

Fluids in solar thermal power plants

Solar photovoltaic systems

Solar photovoltaic (PV) devices, or solar cells, convert sunlight directly into electricity. Small PV cells can power calculators, watches, and other small electronic devices. Larger solar cells are grouped in PV panels, and PV panels are connnected in arrays that can produce electricity for an entire house. Some PV power plants have large arrays that cover many acres to produce electricity for thousands of homes.

Benefits and limitations

Solar energy systems do not produce air pollutants or carbon dioxide.

Solar energy systems on buildings have minimal effects on the environment.

The availability and amount of sunlight that arrives at the earth's surface varies depending on time of day, location, season of the year, and weather conditions.

The amount of sunlight reaching a square foot of the earth's surface is relatively small, so a large surface area is necessary to absorb or collect enough energy to be useful.

Last reviewed: December 27, 2022

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An introduction to solar energy and types of solar energy conversion technologies including solar thermal and solar photovoltaics (PV).

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Kids learn about solar energy and how this renewable power can help the environment. Teach students about solar cells and using the sun for heat.

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username: barley
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What is geothermal energy?

Geothermal energy is heat within the earth. The word geothermal comes from the Greek words geo (earth) and therme (heat). Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source because heat is continuously produced inside the earth. People use geothermal heat for bathing, for heating buildings, and for generating electricity.

Geothermal energy comes from deep inside the earth

The slow decay of radioactive particles in the earth's core, a process that happens in all rocks, produces geothermal energy.

The earth has four major parts, or layers:

An inner core of solid iron that is about 1,500 miles in diameter

An outer core of hot molten rock called magma that is about 1,500 miles thick.

A mantle of magma and rock surrounding the outer core that is about 1,800 miles thick

A crust of solid rock that forms the continents and ocean floors that is 15 miles to 35 miles thick under the continents and 3 miles to 5 miles thick under the oceans

Scientists have discovered that the temperature of the earth's inner core is about 10,800 degrees Fahrenheit (°F), which is as hot as the surface of the sun. Temperatures in the mantle range from about 392°F near the mantle-crust boundary to about 7,230°F near the mantle-core boundary. Rocks and water absorb heat from magma deep underground. The rocks and water found deeper underground have the highest temperatures.

The earth's crust is broken into pieces called tectonic plates. Magma comes close to the earth's surface near the edges of these plates and can move to the surface of the earth through gaps in the plates. This is where volcanoes occur. Magma that reaches the earth's surface is called lava.
Last updated: December 27, 2022

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Geothermal energy is heat within the earth. The word geothermal comes from the Greek words geo (earth) and therme (heat). Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source because heat is continuously produced inside the earth. People use geothermal heat for bathing, for heating buildings, and for generating electricity.

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A comprehensive suite of e-learning resources designed for all ages and abilities with articles, videos, educator tools, eBooks, research guides and more.