Lighting also accounts for a significant share of the electricity consumed by the typical U.S. household.

FORBES: The Case for Keeping the Lights On

Last year, wind generated 2.3 % of the electricity consumed in the U.S. thanks to generous subsidies and other preferential benefits.

FORBES: Lessons From Lemmings: The EU's Green Power Folly

Because 90% of the electricity consumed in Stockholm is supplied by hydro and nuclear plants, there is the potential to significantly reduce emissions by electrifying the transport sector.

FORBES: The Global Electric Vehicle Movement: Best Practices From 16 Cities

Four years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency released a doomsday-scenario forecast saying that the amount of electricity consumed by data centers in the U.S. would surge by 100% between the years 2005 and 2010.

FORBES: EPA's Doomsday Scenario For Data Centers Is False Alarm

And while Google, the king of cloud computing, has been cagey about revealing just how many servers house its treasure trove of data, the company said that of that 1 to 1.5 percent, it accounted for less than 1 percent -- meaning, just a hundredth of a percent of all the electricity consumed last year.

ENGADGET: Report: data centers accounted for just 1 to 1.5 percent of electricity use last year, Google claims less than 1 percent of that

He said that the city government of Kabul and the state-run Radio Television Afghanistan have also not paid for the electricity they have consumed over the past year.

BBC: Threat to cut electricity to Afghanistan's central jail

Electricity needs to be consumed instantaneously.

FORBES: Duke Energy Bets Big on Better Batteries

First, about 80% of all uranium consumed to make electricity has occurred in the last 20 years.

FORBES: Yellowcake Fever

And yet for the majority of that electricity, the consumer knew neither the price nor the value at the time it was consumed.

FORBES: Engaging the Electric Grid - From Information to Intelligence

The least painful and most sensible would be to expand dramatically the availability and use of alcohol-based fuels and electricity as means of powering the transportation sector, where most of our oil is currently consumed.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: War footing or GODSAVEUS

It's impossible to add up all the indirect environmental costs of a windmill, but a good proxy for this arithmetic is simply to compare the resources consumed (in dollars) with the output produced (in dollar value of the electricity).

FORBES: Environmentalist, Spare That Tree

Wind is the fastest-growing renewable energy source for electricity generation in the U.S., and DOE estimates that 20 percent of the energy consumed in the U.S. could come from wind power by 2030.

FORBES: 'Icebreaker': Offshore Wind Making Waves in Energy and Economic Development