Nebraska's total expenditures on energy decreased 21.1 percent to $8,192.2 million (or $8.2 billion) from 2014 to 2015. The first table below shows that, in 2015, $4,636.2 million (or $4.6 billion) was spent on petroleum, $904.0 million was spent on natural gas, $365.9 million was spent on coal, $77.2 million was spent on nuclear fuel, and $9.6 million was spent on renewable energy. Wood and waste make up the cost associated with renewable energy since there are no direct fuel costs for hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, photovoltaic, or solar thermal energy and expenditures on ethanol were not tracked.
Expenditures on petroleum were over half (56.6 percent) of Nebraska's total expenditures on energy in 2015. Eleven (11.0) percent of Nebraska's expenditures was spent on natural gas, 4.5 percent was spent on coal, 0.94 percent was spent on nuclear fuel, and 0.12 percent was spent on renewable energy.
Petroleum is divided into ten fuels or categories of fuels, as shown in the second table below: motor gasoline made up 45.7 percent of petroleum, distillate fuel made up 44.0 percent of petroleum, propane (3.75 percent), lubricants (2.95 percent), jet fuel (1.66 percent), asphalt and road oil (1.64 percent), other petroleum (0.24 percent), aviation gasoline (0.09 percent), and kerosene (0.0022 percent). Other petroleum includes sixteen (16) separate products, all of which are assigned to the industrial sector. The sixteen products are: aviation gasoline blending components; crude oil; motor gasoline blending components; natural gasoline, including isopentane; pentanes plus; petrochemical feedstocks, naphtha; petrochemical feedstocks, other oils; petrochemical feedstocks, still gas; petroleum coke; plant condensate; special naphthas; still gas; unfinished oils; unfractionated streams; waxes; and miscellaneous. Miscellaneous products vary from inexpensive (absorption oils similar to kerosene) to very expensive (hydraulic fluids) products. The greater part of the miscellaneous product line consists of finished petrochemicals, especially the aromatic hydrocarbons: benzene, toluene, and the xylenes.
Petroleum products are listed in the second table below to conserve space. The expenditures in both tables are in nominal dollars to provide a better comparison.
