Your Guide to Understanding Energy

Your Guide to Understanding Energy: "
Our guest blogger today is Colleen Blessing, who works on the energy statistics website at the Energy Information Administration.

When I think of October, pumpkins, ghosts, and candy come to mind. But I’m guessing most of us don’t conjure up thoughts of coal, oil, and electricity in our trick-or-treat bag.

What? October is about more than just candy and Halloween? Yep, October is Energy Awareness Month!

Ever since the Presidential proclamation in 1991, States, organizations, schools and citizens have used October to promote public understanding of energy and the wise and efficient use of that energy. The theme this year is A Sustainable Energy Future: Putting All the Pieces Together.

But how do we put all the pieces together if we don’t even know what all the pieces are? It’s like when you are doing a jigsaw puzzle that’s missing pieces—you just can’t see the whole picture. Well, it’s the same for energy. Most of us need to learn about more pieces of the energy puzzle to better understand the big picture.


We all need to be more aware of our use of resources, where our fuel comes from, and how energy affects our economy and the environment. Gosh, it seems like energy is in the news every day. Some of the topics are confusing. We think we should understand, but we really don’t.

Do you know what biofuels are?; what renewable energy incentives are out there?; where our oil imports come from?

So check this out: To celebrate Energy Awareness Month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration just launched a basic energy encyclopedia. It’s bite-sized articles, in simple English, on all kinds of energy topics, with graphs and links to more information. This new energy resource has everything from an energy conversion calculator, to where emissions come from, to why our heating oil gets dyed red!

Did you know oil didn’t come from dinosaurs? Did you know that hydrogen is made from water?

Does October make you think of crunchy leaves, chilly Fall sweater weather, and heating bills? Find out about heating fuels.

Energy facts—almost as good as Halloween chocolate…and better for you!
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