Many people mistakenly think of "energy" as referring solely to electricity. On the contrary, policy makers in Albany and Washington use the term energy to broadly describe a range of uses, including electricity and motor fuels. The chart below shows where New York State gets it energy from.

Natural gas, petroleum and coal, all fossil fuels that are not renewable and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, make up the lion's share of the energy that produces our electricity and fuels our vehicles. Looking solely at electricity production, you can see that New York State's four nuclear reactors generate a little over a quarter of our electricity. Natural gas, a relatively clean-burning fossil fuel, accounts for another quarter. The Robert Moses Hydroelectric plant in Niagara is one of the largest hydroelectric power plants in the world and with a capacity of 2,253 megawatts is the second-largest individual generating source in the state. 

New York State suffers from energy problems that are familiar to many Americans. We rely on unstable sources of imported fossil fuels for the vast majority of our transportation needs and are vulnerable to price shocks associated with the cost of oil. New Yorkers are consuming more and more electricity as we buy larger houses and more energy intensive appliances and personal electronics. Our delivery infrastructure is unreliable and outdated and the cost of electricity is the second highest in the nation, hampering our economic development. 

Sources of energy for the U.S. and New York State.

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