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The US could replace all its cars and trucks with electric cars powered by wind turbines taking up less than 3 square kilometres - in theory, at least. That's the conclusion of a detailed study ranking 11 types of non-fossil fuels according to their total ecological footprint and their benefit to human health. The study, carried out by Mark Jacobson of the atmosphere and energy programme at Stanford University, found wind power to be by far the most desirable source of energy. Biofuels from corn and plant waste came right at the bottom of the list, along with nuclear power and "clean" coal.

Spanish wind power companies in the world's third-largest producer expect steady growth in capacity this year despite the credit crunch due to long-term investments, an industry spokesman said on Monday. Wind power business group AEE tallied 16,740 megawatts in installed capacity in Spain at the end of 2008, a rise of 1,609 MW for the year. "We expect a similar amount (of growth) this year," AEE president Jose Donoso said at a news conference.

Nearly 100 MW of turbines are expected to come from General Electric, leaving the utility and energy developer looking for more suppliers to meet a scheduled late-2010 commercial launch.

Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Japan has struggled as many of its nuclear power plants remain off the grid, forcing the country to turn to expensive foreign gas imports. A new report however by Wood Mackenzie highlights the potential wind power has for transforming the Japanese energy mix. Could a great leap see Japan become a wind powerhouse?

The 600MW Gemini offshore wind farm, which is being developed in the Dutch part of the North Sea, approximately 85km off the coast of Groningen, is expected to be one of the world's biggest offshore wind farms. Northland Power, Siemens, HCV...

Offshore wind could be described as the younger sibling of onshore wind, with the first offshore windfarm being completed off the coast of Denmark 1991. In countries such as the US, offshore wind is almost non-existent at the moment , but offshore wind is particularly strong in the UK and Europe, with 1.9GW being installed on the continent in the first half of 2019.

Billionaire T. Boone Pickens brought is traveling energy road show to the Salt Palace Convention Center on Thursday, and hundreds of Utahns came to hear what he had to say. The oil tycoon and mega-successful hedge-fund manager promoted his strategies for alternative fuel development. The Pickens Plan urges Americans to break their reliance on foreign oil by using clean alternatives, including natural gas, wind, solar and nuclear power.

For students from Hocking College's alternative energy and vehicular hybrids program spending the quarter on the Andros Island in the Bahamas was no spring break. Applying what they have learned about wind, solar thermal, solar PV and micro-hydro power systems, their goal was to make the village of Forfar totally self-sustainable.

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire energy investor Boone Pickens, founder and chairman of BP Capital LLC, speaks at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles about the outlook for oil, U.S. energy policy, and alternative energy including wind and solar power. Brian Sullivan moderates. (Source: Bloomberg)

The best ways to improve energy security, mitigate global warming and reduce the number of deaths caused by air pollution are blowing in the wind and rippling in the water, not growing on prairies or glowing inside nuclear power plants, says Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. And "clean coal," which involves capturing carbon emissions and sequestering them in the earth, is not clean at all, he asserts.

The year 2013 witnessed some significant milestones in renewable power generation and transmission, inculding the opening of some of the world's biggest wind, solar and bio-gasification plants. Power-technology.com picks the ten biggest clean energy developments from 2013.

The year 2013 witnessed some significant milestones in renewable power generation and transmission, inculding the opening of some of the world's biggest wind, solar and bio-gasification plants. Power-technology.com picks the ten biggest clean energy developments from 2013. The London Array, the world's biggest offshore wind farm, at 630MW installed capacity was opened in July 2013.

Mill Creek onshore wind farm is a 60MW renewable power project being built in Ohariu Valley near Wellington, New Zealand. Construction started in January 2013 and commercial operation started in September 2014.

The Fukushima floating offshore wind farm demonstration project (Fukushima FORWARD) serves as a symbol of Fukushima's recovery from the nuclear disaster caused by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

Shin Abe doesn't find it odd that the picturesque little Japanese town of Kuzumaki, where he has lived all his life, generates some of its electricity with cow dung. Nor is the 15-year-old middle school student blown away by the vista of a dozen wind turbines spinning atop the forested peak of nearby Mt. Kamisodegawa. And it's old news to Abe that his school gets 25% of its power from an array of 420 solar panels located near the campus. "That's the way it's been," he shrugs. "It's natural." To Abe, it is. But the blase teen has grown up in an alternative universe - one that might be envisioned by Al Gore. That's because Kuzumaki (population 8,000) has over the past decade transformed itself into a living laboratory for the development of sustainable and diversified energy sources. "When I was growing up, all we had [to generate power] was oil," says Kazunori Fukasawaguchi, a Kuzumaki native who now serves in local government. "I never imagined this kind of change." (Read TIME's Top 10 Green Ideas of 2008.)

Growing concerns over climate change and energy security have kicked research on alternative energy sources into high gear. The list of options continues to expand, yet few papers have comprehensively reviewed them. And fewer still have weighed the pros and cons in as much depth as a new study published earlier this month in the journal, Energy & Environmental Science. The results are a mixed bag of logical conclusions and startling wake-up calls. The review pits twelve combinations of electric power generation and vehicular motivation against each other. It is a battle royal of nine electric power sources, three vehicle technologies, and two liquid fuel sources. It rates each combination based on eleven categories. And it was all compiled by one man, Mark Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University.

Investment in renewable energy has hit a lull as private-sector money is drying up, but the bulk of government funding has yet to arrive. There was $13.3 billion in new investments in clean energy -- the term used to describe alternative energy such as wind farms, solar power and biofuels facilities -- in the first three months of 2009, down 53%, from a year earlier, according to a report Thursday from research firm New Energy Finance Ltd. The drop came mostly in bank-based financing for building new projects, the report says, as the credit crunch has caught up with this once high-flying sector.

A smart grid allows for resources which are renewable but not unlimited to be used more efficiently. The common misconception that people have about wind, water, and solar energy is that because they come from nature the supply is never ending.

Many families are investigating ways to reduce their soaring home energy costs. Of the alternative energy sources, two are most viable: solar and wind, but both have drawbacks. Relying on a hybrid of the two is a better option in the long run.