Why do currently renewable resources represent a very small percent of the overall energy consumption in the US?

Answer 1

The answer is unfortunately political in nature. There has been insufficient commitment to the development of alternative, renewable energy resources, in large part because the fossil fuel industry has financed huge disinformation campaigns and given enormous contributions to congressmen willing to oppose reasonable measures aimed at curbing exploitation of fossil fuels and other non renewable resources. There is less short term financial risk for vested interests in defending the status quo.

Much of our hydroelectric power depends upon a reliable winter snow pack. Prolonged droughts put us at risk of energy shortages. Although wind is intermittent, there are many places where air masses move in the same direction for extended periods of time. The trade winds depend upon earth's Coriolis Effect. Although clouds cut into solar power, the sun's output itself varies by only a tiny fraction from year to year. It is considered extremely reliable. The more we invest in ANY technology, the more solutions we find to potential problems.

Germany meets 10% of its national electrical needs via wind power, and is increasing wind generation by constructing more off shore wind farms. More wind and solar plants are being erected in various places around the US as well, as energy companies answer the demands of their customers and state mandates for shifting emphasis on renewable resources. It is surprising the US has taken a back seat in terms of developing clean, efficient alternatives, as opposed to many other nations.

Another Answer:

Actually we do get a great deal of our power fro the only currently workable alternative energy, hydro electric.

Yes, there is a great deal of politics in the debate. Solar and wind are the favored alternatives of politically motivated groups.

Wind is unable to ever replace more then a small portion of our needs due to the nature of wind. It blows on it's own schedule, not when we need power. As a result, fossil fuel pants must be running, at almost full power and not connected to the grid to be able to make up the losses in wind. This causes numbers to become very skewed to meet political goals. Wind turbines place huge loads variances across the grid. To manage these variances, fossil fuel plants run (but are not loaded) to make up for these variations. This power is not considered to be on the grid, so while a country may claim to have 6% of it's power from wind, it may be ignoring the fact that 8% more fossil fuel plants are placed on line or at idle to cover the issues caused by the wind systems. The bottom line is that wind is just not practical as of yet. New technologies are being developed to help wind turbines overcome a large portion of these issues. Unfortunately, because we have thousands of these systems up and not functioning well, we become limited in the answers we can bring to market. we would have far more available options if we did not have so many wind systems that will need to be modified. Waiting until the technology is established may well make the U.S.A. a leader in alternative technologies when the bugs are worked out.

Solar also has physical issues that make it's use currently unworkable. Solar panels only provide power for brief periods of time and not as well in warm weather (over 85 degrees F). It is hard to find cool places with lots of sun. Solar panels also have a seriously limited life span.

Until technology marches forward and overcomes these serious limiting issues, these are interesting and currently unworkable technologies.

Interestingly enough most electric providers would be more than open to a renewable technology that offered them more sell able power for less money.

No corporation around prefers to spend extra money. It is not the power companies that are unwilling to accept new technology and politicize the issue. If the technology were to actually become cost effective ad produce real power, energy companies would need to be held back from over developing the "free" power. It is interesting to note that there is a great deal of money being spent on alternative energy research. Most of that money is from oil companies such as BP, the world's largest producer of solar panels.

Answer 2

Renewable resources represent a small percentage of overall energy consumption in the US due to factors such as high initial costs, intermittency issues, limited storage capabilities, and the existing infrastructure heavily reliant on fossil fuels. Additionally, government policies and subsidies often favor traditional energy sources over renewables, hindering their widespread adoption.