Over the years, as I have talked about why renewable energy is so important, I’ve tried to find accurate statistics on how we get our electricity — that is, what percentage is from coal, gas, nuclear, hydro, solar, wind, etc. The various websites I’ve found have never satisfied my penchant for accuracy, until today when I found the super cool Power Profiler website put out by the EPA. It knows, by zip code, what utility supplies your energy, and then knows further where that utility gets its electricity. And it goes further! It can translate how those electricity sources spew emissions such as nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide, and it compares it to the national average. 
Isn’t this cool? So now we know that those of us in the Midwest region get:
65.3% from coal, compared to the national average of 44.8%
14.2 % from nuclear, compared to the national average of 19.6%
11% from non-hydro renewables (basically wind and solar), compared to the national average of 4%
5.9% from hydro, compared to the national average of 6.2%, and
3.2% from natural gas, compared to the national average of 24%.
Why is this important? Because 2/3 of electricity STILL COMES FROM COAL. And that’s the biggest spewer of not just carbon dioxide (a major greenhouse gas contributing to global climate change), but also all the other stuff that creates smog, respiratory illnesses, and deteriorates our blue skies. So when people say or act like they don’t care about the environment, ask them if they care if the air is okay for kids to go outside and play, or if they care if the sky is blue. Those of us who rely on coal for energy get dirtier air, no matter what the “clean coal” companies tell us.
But mostly I wrote this post because I was excited to find that website as a resource!