In 2002, the following amount of electricity, in gigawatt-hours, was generated from the following sources of fuel:
Coal: 1,925,792 GWh
Nuclear: 779,461 GWh
Gas: 695,226 GWh
Hydro: 255,077 GWh
Fuel oil: 91,629 GWh
Biomass: 71,534 GWh
Other (geothermal, non-wood waste, wind and solar): 22,737 GWh
Geothermal energy currently provides more than 2,700 megawatts of electricity nationwide - the equivalent of three nuclear power plants, or enough to power more than 3.5 million homes.
A geothermal power plant emits no nitrogen oxides, very few sulfur dioxides and 1,000 to 2,000 times less carbon dioxide than a fossil fuel plant.
It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anaesthetic and analgesic effects, where it is commonly known as laughing gas due to the euphoric effects of inhaling it. It is also used as a means to enable short periods of extreme high performance in automobile internal combustion engines by introducing extra oxygen into the intake charge which in turn allows a greater amount of fuel to be added and converted into energy and thereby greatly increasing the power produced by the engine. Nitrous oxide is present in the atmosphere where it acts as a powerful greenhouse gas.
The lowly krill averages only about two inches (5 centimeters) in length, but it represents a giant-sized link in the global food chain. These small, shrimp-like crustaceans are essentially the fuel that runs the engine of the Earth’s marine ecosystems.
Neil Armstrong had to steer the lunar module past a boulder-filled crater by hand, and Apollo 11 landed with less than a minute of descent fuel to spare.
The Toyota Corolla is available as a hybrid, combining a gas engine with an electric motor for better fuel economy.
In 2015, Ford switched the F-150's body to military-grade aluminum alloy, cutting up to about 700 pounds to improve fuel economy and capability.
The Ford Model T could run on gasoline, kerosene, or ethanol.
Honda sold a factory-built natural gas Civic, the Civic GX, in the US.
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles combine hydrogen with oxygen to make electricity, and their only tailpipe emission is water.
Liquid oxygen is used as an oxidizer in rocket fuel.
A single uranium fuel pellet can make about as much energy as a ton of coal.
Much of the US corn crop is used to make ethanol fuel.
James Watt patented a separate condenser in 1769, which made steam engines far more fuel-efficient by not having to reheat the main cylinder every stroke.