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The United States uses about 4,000 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year. DOE estimates that the maximum theoretical electric generation that could be produced from waves and tidal currents is approximately 1,420 TWh per year, approximately one-third of the nation's total annual electricity usage.

calculate the maximum kinetic energy available from waves and tides off U.S. coasts that could be used for future energy production, and which represent largely untapped opportunities for renewable energy development in the United States.

The West Coast, including Alaska and Hawaii, has especially high potential for wave energy development, while significant opportunities for wave energy also exist along the East Coast. Additionally, parts of both the West and East Coasts have strong tides that could be tapped to produce energy.

Wind power is a renewable resource, which means using it will not deplete the earth's supply of fossil fuels. It also is a clean energy source, and operation does not produce carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, particulates, or any other type of air pollution, as do conventional fossil fuel power sources.

Wind power consumes no fuel for continuing operation, and has no emissions directly related to electricity production.

Wind power's ability to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions will depend on the amount of wind energy produced, and hence scalability.

Thirty-eight nationally recognized companies in the United States, including eleven Fortune 500 corporations, are collectively saving millions of dollars in electricity costs while reducing carbon emissions by tens of thousands of tons per year by using fuel cells, according to a new report by Fuel Cells 2000, a non-profit education and outreach organization. 

Estimates of the electricity generating potential of geothermal energy vary from 35 to 2,000 GW.[2] Current worldwide installed capacity is 10,715 megawatts (MW), with the largest capacity in the United States (3,086 MW),[3] Philippines, and Indonesia.

According to the government, geothermal has the potential to supply the United States with 20% of our electricity needs.

The capital cost of geothermal development is expensive, however; 2/3rds are drilling costs. Yet as we overcome some of these technology challenges and make the process more standardized it is believed that geothermal can supply up to 20% of the United States electricity needs by 2050. But innovation and investment in initial steps need to happen now.

Projects

During the first half of 2008, the United States, for the first time, generated more wind energy electricity than Germany, despite the fact that the smaller European country still has more turbines than we do. Germany has enough turbines to collect about 22,000 to 23,000 megawatts of power, while the United States has a capacity of about 18,000 megawatts,

The report finds that in 2011, roughly 6,800 megawatts (MW) of new wind power capacity was added to the U.S. grid, a 31 percent increase from 2010 installations.  The United States’ wind power capacity reached 47,000 MW by the end of 2011 and has since grown to 50,000 MW, enough electricity to power 13 million homes annually or as many as in Nevada, Colorado, Wisconsin, Virginia, Alabama, and Connecticut combined. The country’s cumulative installed wind energy capacity grew 16 percent from 2010, and has increased more than18-fold since 2000.  The report also finds that six states now meet more than 10 percent of their total electricity needs with wind power.

This initiative, supported by legislation in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005) and the Advanced Energy Initiative of 2006, aims to develop hydrogen, fuel cell and infrastructure technologies to make fuel-cell vehicles practical and cost-effective by 2020

Why are governments, private businesses and academic institutions collaborating to develop and produce them? Fuel cells generate electrical power quietly and efficiently, without pollution. Unlike power

that use fossil fuels, the by-products from an operating fuel cell are heat and water

Today, most hydrogen in the United States, and about half of the world's hydrogen supply, is produced through the steam reforming of natural gas. The U.S. demand for hydrogen currently is about 9 million tons per year. Of this amount, about 1.5 million tons is merchant hydrogen production that is sold to refineries and chemical plants. In refineries, hydrogen is produced as a by-product of naphtha reforming, and any supplemental hydrogen is produced from steam reforming of natural gas. The chemical industry also uses hydrogen, mostly to manufacture ammonia and other nitrogen-based fertilizers. Hydrogen for the chemical industry is also produced from steam reforming of natural gas, although some chemical plants use coal gasification (i.e., partial oxidation) to produce hydrogen. In total, about 95 percent of U.S. hydrogen production for supplemental refinery needs and the chemical industry is produced from natural gas using steam reforming technology.

Now that the United States is using 40 percent of its crop to make biofuel, it is not surprising that tortilla prices have doubled in Guatemala, which imports nearly half of its corn. 

1 MW of wind energy can offset approximately 2,600 tons Waste heat recovery  file size 4MB of carbon dioxide annually.

29,440 Megawatts (MW) of wind energy are currently installed in the United States, and an additional 5,866 MW are under construction.Over 8,500 MW were installed in the US in 2008 (just beating out China with 6,300 MW). This represents: 50 percent increase from 200742 percent of all new generating capacity installed in 2008$17 billion investment44 million tons of carbon emissions avoided (equivalent of 7 million cars)35,000 new jobs

Tidal turbines look like wind turbines. They are arrayed underwater in rows, as in some wind farms. The turbines function best where coastal currents run between 3.6 and 4.9 knots (4 and 5.5 mph). In currents of that speed, a 49.2-foot (15-meter) diameter tidal turbine can generate as much energy as a 197-foot (60-meter) diameter wind turbine. Ideal locations for tidal turbine farms are close to shore in water 65.5–98.5 feet (20–30 meters) deep

Wave energy is produced when electricity generators are placed on the surface of the ocean

Energy output is determined by wave height, wave speed, wavelength, and water density.

The energy provided is most often used in desalination plants, power plants and water pumps.

Much of the gasoline in the United States is blended with a biofuel—ethanol. This is the same stuff as in alcoholic drinks, except that it's made from corn that has been heavily processed. There are various ways of making biofuels, but they generally use chemical reactions, fermentation, and heat to break down the starches, sugars, and other molecules in plants. The leftover products are then refined to produce a fuel that cars can use.

How much solar energy is used in the world? Global capacity for solar energy production reached 39.8 GigaWatts (0.0398 terawatts) in 2010 . Here are the top 10 solar energy producing countries in the world:

United States (1,650 MW