2: Energy Choices for PA and the US

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Marcellus Matters
Pennsylvania State University via John A. Dutton: e-Education Institute

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Overview

Pennsylvania is a major energy state. It is one of the largest producers of electric energy, and sends fully one-third of all the power it produces to surrounding states. In just a few years it has become the second-largest producer of natural gas in the U.S. Regionally, Pennsylvania is one of the larger wind-producing states in the eastern U.S.

You might think that all of this is because Pennsylvania has one of the largest economies in the U.S. and a rich energy resource base. All of this is true. But compare a state like Pennsylvania with California, another state with a large economy and rich energy resources. Unlike Pennsylvania, California has to import much of its electricity from other states. While California has significant oil and gas wealth, it is not a major producer of either (California is the third-largest on-shore oil producer, but its oil output pales in comparison to Texas, Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.)

Two states with very large economies and significant energy resources have made two very different sets of decisions. Why? What factors come into play when individual states or the U.S. set their energy use priorities? In this lesson we’ll look at how different energy resources are used in Pennsylvania and across the U.S. and identify some of the ways in which these resources differ from one another.

Please watch the following video.