Colorado is a leader in the United States for energy production. The state ranks 7th in total energy production with 3,042 trillion BTUs produced in 2014. Of this energy production, a large majority of this production comes from oil, which the state produced 9,200 thousand barrels in November of 2016, and natural gas, which the state produced a total of 1,704,836 million cubic feet of in 2015. There is no nuclear energy produced in Colorado.
For total electricity generation, Colorado ranks 27th with 4,332 thousand megawatt-hours generated in November of 2016. By source, the large majority of this electricity is produced by coal at over 2,500 thousand megawatt hours generated in November of 2016, meaning coal provides Colorado with over half of its electricity production. This is followed by nonhydroelectric renewables, which produced 985 megawatt hours, and natural gas fired generation, which produced 722 megawatt hours.
Colorado’s electricity prices rank 25th highest in the country at an average retail price of $0.1216 per kilowatt-hour.
For consumption, Colorado is not as significant compared to other states as they are with production. Colorado ranks at 34th most energy consumed with 276 million BTUs consumed per capita. According to the US census, the Colorado population was roughly 5,349,648 in 2014. In total this puts Colorado consumption at a total of 1.476 quadrillion BTUs.
Breaking this consumption down by source, the most significant sources of consumption are natural gas and coal. In 2014, natural gas accounted for 497.2 trillion BTUs consumed. Coal accounted for 350.5 trillion BTUs consumed. Gasoline for motors, such as cars, trucks, etc., accounted for 250.3 trillion BTUs consumed. All renewables, biomass, hydroelectric, solar, wind, etc., put together account for 131.4 trillion BTUs. Nuclear energy accounts for none of the energy consumed in Colorado. By sector, the most significant sectors of consumption are industrial and transportation, which account for 29% and 28% respectively. Residential accounts for 24%, and commercial accounts for 19%.