What is green energy?
Green energy or alternative energy is a catch all phrase that designates energy, such as electricity produced without combusting oil, coal or their derivatives, such as gasoline or kerosene. When we combust these products inside boilers, turbines, internal combustion engines (automobiles) one of the main by-products is carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

About the Solar America Initiative

The Solar America Initiative is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) effort to accelerate the development of advanced solar energy technologies. The goal is to make solar electricity from photovoltaics (PV) cost-competitive with conventional forms of electricity from the utility grid by 2015.

Learn more about the Solar America Initiative:

Mission 

Goals 

Accomplishments 

FAQs 

Contacts 

20% Wind Energy by 2030

To help meet America's increasing energy needs while protecting our Nation's energy security and environment, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is working with wind industry partners to develop clean, domestic, innovative wind energy technologies that can compete with conventional fuel sources. DOE's Wind Energy Program efforts have culminated in some of industry's leading products today and have contributed to record-breaking industry growth.

The following links will provide you with more information about wind energy and the Wind Energy Program's research and development efforts. Some of the documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

Selected Wind Energy Topics

• Wind Energy Basics
• 20% Wind Energy by 2030 Scenario
• Large Wind Technology
• Systems Integration
• Distributed Wind Energy Technology
• Wind Powering America
• Federal Wind Siting Information Center
• Current Financial Opportunities

Recent Publications

• 20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy's Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply (PDF 9.1 MB)
• 2008 Merit Review Report (PDF 1.4 MB)
• Annual Report on U.S. Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends: 2007 (PDF 3.9 MB)
• Annual Report on U.S. Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends: 2007 - A presentation from Ryan Wiser and Mark Bolinger, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (PDF 1.3 MB)
• Wind Energy Program Multiyear Program Plan 2007 - 2012 (PDF 2.3 MB)
• Wind Power Today (PDF 2.1 MB)

Learn more about water power research.

The U.S. Department of Energy conducts research on a wide range of advanced waterpower technologies. As part of its commitment to develop clean, domestic energy sources, DOE is collaborating with industry, regulators and other stakeholders to investigate emerging water power technologies and to further improve conventional hydropower systems.

Emerging water power technologies include marine and hydrokinetic devices, which offer the potential to capture energy from waves, tides, ocean currents and the natural flow of water in rivers, as well as marine thermal gradients, without building new dams or diversions. To develop these technologies, DOE has awarded funding to several national laboratories, companies, universities, and other organizations. These awards will be used for advanced waterpower technology development, market research and acceleration projects, and the university-led national centers for research. See the DOE press release on the funding awards for more information.

In conventional hydropower, the program's 2008 priorities are the continued improvement in the efficiency and environmental performance of turbines and dams.

Learn more about water power research.

Selected Topics

• Hydropower Basics

    Check Out    Our Green Videos

               RESEARCH NEWS AND INFO

• Stimulus Dollars Begin to Flow: Here's How, Where and When

• Does the U.S. Have Enough Engineers To Reach its Renewable Energy Goals?

• State Solar Update: FIT Regulatory Boost in California, Bills on the Docket in Arizona

• Renewable Energy Industry Looks to Capitialize on Momentum in Washington

• PV Tracking Applications Gather Momentum

• 75-MW CSP Plant to be Built in Florida

• Video: Hawaii - Transforming Energy in a Generation

   

Solar Concentrator: By putting the cells only on the edge of the dye-painted concentrator, the cost and efficiency both improve. MIT

When I was eight years old, my uncle told me that I’d get a solar-powered car for my sixteenth birthday – and that it would be affordable. When I turned 16 in 2002, though, solar power was still inefficient and expensive, and I landed a bike instead. It's taken impossibly high fuel costs, global warming, and some serious engineering developments, but six years later, solar power is finally becoming a viable alternative to oil.

MIT engineers have recently helped up the feasibility of widespread solar power by developing a new “solar concentrator.” The concentrator, which is a flat glass panel spread across a large area, gathers light at the edges of its surface. Expensive solar cells only need to sit on these borders – a difference that lowers costs and increases efficiency by 10 to 15 percent.

Scientists rerouted light to the panel’s edges by painting the surface with two or more organic dyes. By joining forces, these dyes absorb light from different wavelengths, thus harnessing as much power as possible. The panels can even be placed on existing solar-power systems – which could increase each cell’s power-capturing ability by 50 percent. Meaning maybe that car's not such a pipe dream after all.