Energy 101

How Energy is Produced, Used, and Transformed

This includes fundamental information for people new to energy or specific energy topics, along with those looking for data or a central place to help tell the story of how energy systems affect their work and interests. Narratives range from basic information about where our transportation and natural gas resources come from and how they get to consumers, to the role that codes, standards, and net-zero buildings play in reducing overall energy use.

Full Energy 101 Section

Energy Production Categories

Electricity
Much of the electricity generated in-state uses Oregon-based natural resources – wind or hydropower, for example. Oregon energy facilities also generate electricity using raw materials from out of state. All of the coal and almost all of the natural gas used at Oregon’s large scale in-state coal and natural gas power plants is imported. Oregon does produce renewable natural gas and biofuels that are used to generate electricity, they are also sometimes used for combined heat and power at mainly commercial and industrial facilities in Oregon.

Direct Use Fuels
Direct use fuels include small amounts of natural gas and a variety of biofuels produced in-state: hog fuel (wood chips) used for industrial heat, commercial wood pellets for commercial industrial heat, renewable natural gas and other biofuels used for combined heat and power, and others.

Transportation Fuels
Oregon produces about 25 percent of the biofuels our transportation system uses; overall, biofuels make up 6.4 percent of Oregon’s use of transportation fuels.

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Electricity Transmission

Transmission lines move large volumes of high-voltage electricity across long distances and are needed to connect large distant generating resources to electricity customers (also known as load centers). Transmission lines create a networked system by interconnecting a variety of load centers to generating resources. Most generators are located long distances from the towns, cities, counties, and rural areas they serve.

Energy and our daily lives

The second part of the story is how energy systems affect the lives of Oregonians. Information in this section includes an explanation of energy bills and how net metering works for technologies like rooftop solar. Readers can then learn more about the very real challenges of energy burden in our state, along with the growth and opportunities of clean energy jobs in Oregon.

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