Check the above graphic from the Energy Information Agency showing estimated total energy use in New Hampshire.
You probably didn’t think that almost two-thirds of our energy comes from burning oil, did you? That’s because I, like most places, talk mostly about electricity when discussing “energy” and very little of our electricity comes from oil-burning plants (usually it only happens during extreme cold spells when everything possible gets fired up).
But much of our energy usage goes into transportation and heating, where oil is a big deal. My house burns nasty dirty heating oil to stay warm and yours probably does too and my cars burns nasty dirty gasoline to move and yours probably does too.
Here’s the graphic again because for some reason it won’t show the whole thing when I put it above the headline:
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It is probably a small difference, but I suspect a portion of the electricity supply includes generation from renewable sources? The latest electricity provider contract for our home service is a competitive rate by wind generation. Somewhere in the grid, I assume wind generation capacity get metered and paid for. It keeps the electric service continuous when it’s not sunny or windy at my house today.
If you count hydropower and biomass as renewable, then something like 8-10-15% of New England’s electricity is renewable, varying widely from day to day and season to season. If you only count wind and solar then the number is much smaller, maybe 2 or 3 or 4%. ISO-New England has lots of charts to play with – not New Hampshire-specific, but we’re part of a regional grid. https://www.iso-ne.com/isoexpress/