Energy

Where does your power come from?

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The Washington Post has a nifty interactive graphic that shows how much each state relies on various sources of electricity in 2015. Here’s how the states of the Great Lakes region compare with the national percentages. States are not listed when energy sources are so small they are lumped into an “other” category.  
Coal – nationally 34 percent

Indiana 75 percent
Ohio 62 percent
Wisconsin 55 percent
Minnesota 47 percent
Michigan 45 percent
Illinois 39 percent
Pennsylvania 35 percent
New York 2 percent

Natural gas – nationally 30 percent

New York 38 percent
Pennsylvania 24 percent
Ohio 22 percent
Wisconsin 20 percent
Indiana 17 percent
Michigan 15 percent
Minnesota 11 percent
Illinois 5 percent

Nuclear – nationally 20 percent

Illinois 49 percent
Pennsylvania 36 percent
New York 32 percent
Michigan 29 percent
Minnesota 19 percent
Wisconsin 16 percent
Ohio 12 percent

Hydro – nationally 7 percent

New York 19 percent
Wisconsin 4 percent
Minnesota 1 percent
Michigan 1 percent
Pennsylvania 1 percent

Wind – nationally 5 percent

Minnesota 19 percent
Illinois 6 percent
Michigan 5 percent
Indiana 5 percent
New York 4 percent
Wisconsin 4 percent
Pennsylvania 2 percent

Oil – nationally 1 percent

New York 3 percent
Pennsylvania 1 percent

Solar – nationally 1 percent

All Great Lakes states roll solar into an other category

Air

Smoke on a lake that’s great

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The forests of western Canada and the U.S. aren’t the only ones burning during a drought this year. This image from NASA’s Earth Observatory shows that similar fires in Siberia have produced a smoky trail obscuring parts of Lake Baikal. Burning areas are in red. Lake Baikal is one of the world’s largest lakes. While smaller in area than North America’s Lake Superior, it is far deeper and contains much more water – the most of any lake in the world.