CS 424 Spring 2021

David Shumway

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Project 1 - "Power and the Passion"

A web-based application using R, Shiny, ggplot2, and Shiny Dashboard to visualize electrical power generation in the US from 1990-2019

"Clean" energy

In 1990, wind and solar power were both virtually non-existent across the US. Meanwhile, since 1990, hydro power has remained largely unchanged. By 2020, wind power now accounts for as much power as hydro in the US, while solar now represents about one-quarter as much production as both wind and hydro.

At present, no state produces a majority of its power through solar, with only a handful of states producing around one-quarter of their total energy through this power source. On the other hand, there are a number of states, such as Iowa and Kansas, which at present produce around fifty-percent of their total energy through wind power.

At present, only California and Nevada appear to have any substantial amount of geothermal energy production. Like hydro power across the US, since 1990 geothermal energy in these two states has remained fairly flat, meaning both that no new energy systems have come online and that no old systems have been retired during this period.

Also like hydro in the US, since 1990 use of the carbon "neutral" energy source of Wood has remained mostly flat.

"Dirty" energy

Since 1990, use of petroleum as an energy source has been roughly cut in half, while nuclear power increased from 600 to 800 million megawatts. While coal has been largely declining, use of the cleaner but still dirty fossial fuel source natural gas has skyrocketed. From its peak of roughly 2 billion megawatts of production around 2010, coal has now fallen to roughly 1 billion megawatts of production. Meanwhile, natural gas has gone from roughly 400 million megawatts of energy produced in 1990 to over 1.5 billion megawatts producted in 2019.