WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The Natural Resources Defense Council said wind energy production in the United States was on the rise while coal and oil use was on the decline.
The NRDC said onshore wind energy was the leading source of renewable energy in the United States, increasing by a factor of 24 from 2000 to 2012. The federal government this year held its first-ever lease for offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean.
In terms of coal, the NRDC said its usage was down nearly 20 percent from its peak in 2005. The advocacy group said this may be because coal makes less economic sense and poses more of a health problem than rival forms of energy.
A similar trend was seen for oil usage, which the NRDC said was down 14 percent from its peak in 2005.
"Based on key economic, security, and environmental indicators, the state of the U.S. energy economy has never been better," the report's author, Ralph Cavanagh, said in a statement.
The NRDC said total U.S. energy use peaked in 2007. Despite the most severe economic collapse since the Great Depression in the 1930s, the advocacy group said in a nine-page report published Tuesday the U.S. economy grew by more than 25 percent from 1999 to 2012 when adjusted for inflation.
